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U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
Special Report
Bringing Environmental Education
to Diverse Audiences
Mission of the National Wildlife Refuge System
The mission of the System is to administer a national network of lands and waters
for the conservation, management, and where appropriate, restoration of the fish,
wildlife, and plant resources and their habitats within the United States for the benefit
of present and future generations of Americans.
Authors
Karen Leggett and Heather Dewar are writers/editors in the National Wildlife Refuge System Branch of Communications.
Kendall Slee is a freelance writer in Colorado who frequently contributes to National Wildlife Refuge System publications.
Suzanne Trapp is Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge partner school coordinator.
Barrett Elementary School
Fourth-graders went on a digital
scavenger hunt at Elizabeth Hartwell
Mason Neck National Wildlife Refuge,
not far from their school in Virginia.
(See Infused with Wildlife, page 21) table of contents
Letter from the Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
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Lessons from the Albatross. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
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Teaching Second-Graders about Life Cycles and Stewardship
Minnesota Refuge Partner School Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Making School Visits More than “One-Hit No-Wonder”
The Smell of Marsh Mud: Matagorda Island National Wildlife Refuge. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13
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Offering Multiple Options for Hands-on Study of an Ecosystem
Journals and JPGs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17
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Introducing Youth to Wildlife in Colorado and Wyoming
Infused with Wildlife . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21
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Teaching Refuges to All Students
Building Environmental Literacy One Class at a Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
From 26 Students to 320 in Three Years
Environmental Learning = 1 Trail + Many Partners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Hands-on Lessons in Scientific Fieldwork
Nature in the City . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
The Garden that an EE Partnership Built
“What Is Given in the Right Way Cannot Be Forgotten” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37
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Connecting Children, Nature and Culture by Teaching Cooperatively with Native Elders
Letter from the Chief of the National Wildlife Refuge System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Inside Back Cover
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Joe Lu
A student photo displayed at the
Colorado State Capitol was auctioned
by the Friends. (See Journals and
JPGs, page 17)
A Message from the director
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
National wildlife refuges are some of the most special places in the world for wildlife. That’s why we
must introduce children to these special places early and often. The great biologist E.O. Wilson noted
that, “Most children have a bug period, and I never outgrew mine. Hands-on experience at the critical
time, not systematic knowledge, is what counts in the making of a naturalist.”
Although many children do have extraordinary experiences in the outdoors, studies show that young
people today are spending only half as much time outside as their parents did. The environmental
education programs of national wildlife refuges are the best way we can reverse those trends and connect with diverse
student populations in both urban and rural areas.
In this Special Report, you will read about children who are acting out the life cycle of a Laysan albatross, gaining traditional
and scientific knowledge about fish in Alaska, finding ghost crabs on Texas Gulf Coast beaches, and measuring water quality
in Florida. Such experiences will stay with children all their lives. Research tells us that such “wild nature” adventures during
childhood are associated with environmentally-friendly behaviors in adulthood. I hope you’ll gain new insight and ideas from
these examples and that you will share your own successes with your colleagues.
Environmental education is fundamental to nurturing a strong land ethic. I strongly encourage you to find ways to replicate
or adapt some of these programs on your refuge and in your work to connect children to America’s great outdoors. A new
generation of conservationists will thank you.
Dan Ashe
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lessons from the Albatross
teaching Second-graders about life cycles and Stewardship
By Kendall Slee
the laysan albatross that spend part of their lives on Hawai’i’s Kaua’i island
are fascinating. that’s why the staff of Kîlauea point National Wildlife Refuge
decided to focus on the seabirds for an elementary-level education program in
the 2010-2011 school year.
A seabird found only along the coast
where colonies exist, the albatross are
easy to identify. Standing 32 inches
tall, with a wingspan of more than
six feet, albatross – called Mol­in
the
native language – can steal a show
with their mating dance of sky calling,
bill clapping, head tucks and bobbing,
deep bows, and outstretched necks and
wings. Most of their life milestones can
be observed November to June – perfect
for the school year – and albatross are
usually flying and nesting near their
colony on Kîlauea Point.
So Shayna Carney, the refuge’s former
supervisory park ranger, envisioned a
program designed around life cycles, a
state curriculum standard for second
graders.
Carney wrote the first lesson about sea­bird
adaptations and Caroline Tucker
was hired as a part-time environmental
educator to write the rest of the
curriculum, focusing on life stages of
the albatross from egg to adult. (See
sidebar on “The Life Stages of a Laysan
Albatross.”) Refuge staff taught five
45-minute lessons in the classroom (see
“Laysan Albatross Lesson Outline”)
and provided 12 additional lessons per
month for five months. The program
Laysan albatross
spend months
foraging on the open
ocean, then return
to their colonies on
land for breeding
season—November
through July.
culminated in a two-hour field trip to
the refuge in April and May.
The program was taught to 12 second-grade
classes – 245 students – from
six public, private and charter schools
on the northern and eastern side of
the island. All are no more than a
45-minute drive from the refuge. The
Hawai`i Youth Conservation Corps,
the state branch of Americorps, hired
volunteer Scott Clapsaddle to help
Tucker teach the lessons; the refuge’s
interpretive rangers filled out the
teaching ranks. The refuge Friends
group, Kîlauea Point Natural History
Association, funded bus transportation
for the field trip as well as supplies and
educational materials.
dancing like an Albatross
The program emphasized participatory
learning, whether students danced like
an albatross or tested the strength of
an egg. “I think when you are doing
hands-on experiential learning, it sticks
in your mind better than if you’re just
hearing it and seeing it,” Tucker says.
Nanea Sproat-Armitage, a teacher at
Kîlauea School, says she was impressed
by how much information her students
retained month to month from the
lessons. The program helped students
gain a deeper understanding of a bird
they might recognize but know little
about, she says.
Diane McDonald, a teacher at Hanalei
School, agrees. “A couple of the main
points of the program that really stuck
with my students were the distances
these birds fly and how long the birds
stay at sea, how strong an egg shell is
and how the mother and father both
take care of the chick,” she says. “The
students also had a great time learning
the life Stages of a laysan Albatross
Laysan Albatross can be spotted on Kaua’i and other islands of the
Hawai’ian archipelago November through July, when they alight on land to
mate and breed after months of foraging on the open ocean.
In November, the albatross return to their breeding grounds – usually the
same place where they hatched. They begin nesting with their mates. The
birds are monogamous. Parents take turns incubating their single egg until
it hatches in January or February.
Once the chick hatches, parents will leave the nest in search of food, and
return to feed their chick regurgitated squid oil and flying fish eggs.
The albatross begin seeking mates when they are three to five years old.
Single albatross can be seen performing elaborate mating dances from
November through June as they search for and bond with a mate. The
courting process is extensive. Bonded pairs eventually breed when they
are between six and eight years old.
Chicks fledge in June and July, and will spend the next several years
feeding in the open ocean. After they begin breeding, they spend their
non-breeding months at sea. The Laysan albatross live 40 to 60 years.
USFWS
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Kîlauea Point
National Wildlife
Refuge’s albatross
education pro-gram
covered the
life stages of an
albatross from egg
to fluffy chick to
breeding adult.
Chris Swenson
Students learned how marine debris can be deadly to albatross and they brainstormed ways to help: recycling,
using re-usable lunch containers, cleaning up beaches and spreading the word about how litter hurts the birds.
the different mating dances and then
recognized the dances during our visit.”
While refuge staff visited the schools
about once a month, teachers extended
the lessons with displays and discus­sions,
typically posting pictures of the
albatross at their life stage throughout
the year. Most had a little stuffed
albatross displayed in front of the room.
Each class also received a small book
about albatross written by a refuge
volunteer.
Responding to teacher Feedback
Refuge staff encouraged teachers’
feedback and adjusted lessons accord­ingly.
Informal feedback from teachers
guided Tucker on small revisions – such
as what activities the students enjoyed
most or whether they were grasping
key concepts. “If an activity was too
confusing, with the teacher’s help—and
usually on the spot—I could change
the instructions to meet the needs of
individual students and the class as a
whole,” Tucker says.
Flexibility proved key. The field trip to
the refuge turned up a few challenges
when many classes lacked enough
parent volunteers to lead small groups
through a scavenger hunt at a series of
learning stations.
“We found that some of our scavenger
hunt clues were too complicated for
second-graders, and we needed to
let go of some of the details,” Tucker
says. “In the end the most important
thing was making sure they had a good
experience in the outdoors and could
feel good about what they knew about
the albatross and stewardship.”
Active Stewardship
Students learned how marine debris
can be deadly to albatross and they
brainstormed ways to help: recycling,
using re-usable lunch containers, clean­ing
up beaches and spreading the word
about how litter hurts the birds.
A program highlight for Kîlauea Point
supervisory park ranger Jennifer
Waipa was seeing children exhibit their
knowledge during the field trip. “The
kids really grabbed on to certain things
they’d learned through the lessons –
like the word ‘chalaza.’” To introduce
and reinforce the word for the tissue
that attaches the yolk within the egg,
lesson instructors asked the students
to repeat the rhyme, “The chalaza holds
the yolk in place-uh.”
“Weeks or months later, you could see
how the lessons were created in a way
that helped them retain that informa­tion,”
Waipa says.
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laysan Albatross
lesson outline
lesson 1: Build a Bird
Concepts: Basic information about
national wildlife refuges, Kî­lauea
Point
and seabird adaptations.
Active component: A student is
transformed into a bird with the help
of classmates who provide suggestions
for elements to add – feathers, webbed
feet, sharp hooked beak, long wings.
lesson 2: So You think You can
dance… like an Albatross?
Concepts: Courtship.
Active component: Students create an
albatross mask prior to lesson. During
the classroom visit, students learn
about courtship rituals, including a few
of the 25 dance moves albatross use
to find and impress a potential mate.
Students wear “gooney bird” masks and
try some of the dances in small groups.
lesson 3: An egg-stravaganza!
Concepts: An egg is a habitat for a
growing baby bird.
Active component: Students participate
in an “egg-speriment” to test the
strength of an egg. Two students
stand in front of the class and squeeze
eggs – one from the sides, one from top
to bottom. “Usually if an egg breaks,
it would be the one squeezed from the
sides,” Tucker says. “This is a visual
way to show that the strength of an egg
is due to its shape. It is the strongest
shape in nature.”
Another experiment: Place books on
an upright egg to see how much weight
it can bear. Many classes reached 10 to
12 textbooks before the egg broke. Stu­dents
also learned names and functions
for each part of an egg by acting out
parts and repeating catchy phrases.
lesson 4: Food for the Brood
Concepts: Both parents care for the
newly hatched chick; one parent forages
at sea and brings back fish and squid,
while the other broods over the chick
to keep it warm and protect it from
predators.
Active component: Students learn
firsthand the challenges of being a
parent albatross by playing a relay-race
game. Split into groups, students are
given a “nest” with a “chick” inside
(using a bowl with a photo of a chick in
a nest). Each group has a “feeding area”
in the classroom that holds “food items”
such as squid, flying fish eggs and flying
fish (all simulated by fishing lures or
poker chips.) The first person must run
to the feeding area to collect food, using
an origami “beak,” and bring it back to
“feed” the chick (deposit it in the bowl)
while the remaining “parent” protects
the nest from “predators” (facilitators
or teachers wearing cat masks).
“This is a physical way to demonstrate
how difficult it can be to be a parent alba­tross
and have such important duties,”
Tucker explains. “Students were chal­lenged
to run, use hand-eye coordination
to collect the food, stay near the nest
and guard the chick, as well as show
aggression (albatross-style, of course!)
to predators to protect their young.”
lesson 5: Ready for take-off
Concepts: Albatross chicks must go
through several changes before they leave
the colony and begin their adult lives.
Active component: Students measure
their own wingspan prior to the classroom
visit. During the lesson, each student
makes a personalized “bird band.” The
bands are then mixed up and the teacher
tries to match each student with the
correct band, using only the information
on the band (wingspan, hair color, etc.)
lesson 6: Field trip: Kîlauea point
Scavenger Hunt
Concepts: Review of the life cycle
stages and recollection of information
shared throughout the program.
Active component: Students work in
small groups to solve clues, find secret
locations, and complete challenges all
around Kîlauea Point.
Kîlauea Point National Wildlife Refuge environmental educator Caroline Tucker
(far left) and Americorps volunteer Scott Clapsaddle (far right) put on their best
albatross faces with a class of second-graders.
Diane McDonald
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Minnesota Refuge partner School program
Making School visits More than “one-Hit No-Wonder”
By Suzanne Trapp
“What are we really accomplishing running 20,000 students
through the refuge each year?”
Beth Ullenberg, supervisory visitor
services manager at one of the largest
urban refuges in the National Wildlife
Refuge System, summarized staff senti­ment
when she arrived at Minnesota
Valley National Wildlife Refuge in 2006.
“We’d have two hours to teach anywhere
from 60 to 120 students about nature.
Teachers and students were not always
engaged, and the majority of staff
time was spent trying to control the
group.” The result was what Ullenberg
described as a “one-hit no-wonder”
experience.
Staff agreed. They had little confidence
that students understood the value of
the National Wildlife Refuge System,
let alone the refuge treasure in their
own urban backyard. What emerged in
2006 was the Refuge Partner Schools
Program, which places the quality of
student and teacher experiences at the
forefront of the environmental educa­tion
program.
The program has enrolled three schools:
East Union Elementary in Carver,
Minnesota, the American Indian School
in St. Paul and Jackson Elementary in
Shakopee. Staff, interns, volunteers,
Right: Catching
wildlife in the
Prairie Insect
Survey is a favorite
fall field trip.
Left: Elementary
students created
a colorful, inter-active
magnetic
mural that shows
the variety of
teachers and parent chaperones all
contribute their time to the program.
The 2011-12 school year marks the fifth
season of the Refuge Partner School
Program. During this time, principal
retention and support have proved
critical to the program’s success.
Indeed, the best Partner Schools have a
principal who strongly supports outdoor
learning, wants to see teachers use the
refuge as an outdoor classroom and
supports associated teacher training.
To provide outdoor experiences and
environmental learning to students
least likely to visit a wildlife refuge on
their own, Minnesota Valley Refuge
considered the percentage of ethnically
diverse and low-income students when
it selected Refuge Partner Schools.
Such demographic information is
available from the state’s Department
of Education website. Additionally, the
refuge sought partner schools that
lacked environmental educators or
naturalist staff and a nature area within
walking distance.
At first, several Twin Cities envi­ronmental
magnet schools seemed
the logical choice for participation.
They were eager to join and clearly
met the criteria of strong principle
support. However, with nature areas
just outside their back doors and
environmental education specialists or
naturalists on staff, these schools did
not need mentoring.
the program structure
Each school initially signs a three-year
cooperative agreement. The principal
commits to sending each class (K-5)
to the refuge at least three times
a year. “This is the hands-on piece
that I wanted,” says Jenny Killian, a
second- and third-grade teacher at
East Union Elementary School, which
has participated in the program for its
entire five years. By getting the kids
out in nature, the instruction “becomes
more meaningful,” she says. “It sticks
in those little brains more than it would
if we just read about it in books.”
In addition, teachers set aside one hour
in the classroom to allow refuge staff
to introduce an activity before each
two-hour field trip. Teachers are invited
to attend workshops in natural history,
outdoor teaching techniques, and other
national environmental education cur­ricula
led by refuge staff and partners,
all free of charge.
At the end of the third year, teachers
and refuge staff assess the partnership.
If it continues, a two- or three-year
extension is granted. Students continue
to visit the refuge on the same schedule
but teachers present the field trip
pre-activity. Teachers are asked to
brainstorm with students about Service
Learning projects that help both the
refuge and the learning experience.
East Union Elementary students, for
example, created a colorful, interactive
magnetic mural that shows the variety
of plants and wildlife on the refuge. The
mural hangs in the Rapids Lake Educa­tion
and Visitor Center.
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plants and wild-life
on Minnesota
Valley Refuge.
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Who goes there? Three
Refuge Partner Schools
send students to Minnesota
Valley National Wildlife
Refuge for spring, fall and
winter field trips.
Survey, targeted toward second- and
third-graders, although this may be
altered to suit first-graders since the
state guidelines are changing. Students
collect a half-dozen or so butterflies,
grasshoppers and other insects and use
a chart to record how they are similar
and different. They create graphs, tally
numbers, write or draw about their
observations and build their math and
critical observation skills – all in one
exercise.
In Habitat – Who Needs It? kindergar­teners
learn the four major components
of habitat – food, water, shelter and
space – and the difference between
wild and domestic animals. As they visit
different habitats on the refuge, they
think about the food and water sources
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After three years and two revisions, the teaching matrix outlines not only
ensure three years of visits to the refuge, but they also provide increasingly
challenging lessons that meet state educational standards in math, english,
physical education, social studies as well as science.
Each year, fifth-graders graduating
from the program spend a Friday in
spring learning how to fish on the
refuge. Thanks to Youth Fishing Day
sponsors such as the Red Lake Nation,
the Minnesota Department of Natural
Resources, General Mills and Gander
Mountain, students learn to cast, tie
a knot, identify common Minnesota
fish species and create fish art before
going home with their own rod, reel and
tackle set.
the curriculum
For teachers to embrace the refuge as
an extension of their classrooms, the
Refuge Partner School curriculum
had to meet state education standards.
According to Killian, no valuable class
time is lost because the material
covered at the refuge correlates with
required instruction. For refuge
staff and management to support the
program, it had to increase student
environmental awareness and foster
a stewardship ethic. For the program
to compete with offerings at nearby,
Partner School Coordinator nature
and environmental centers, it had to
provide a unique experience to teachers
and students.
After three years and two revisions, the
teaching matrix outlines not only ensure
three years visits to the refuge, but
they also provide increasingly challeng­ing
lessons that meet
state educational stan­in
each.
In Seeds on the Go, second- and
third-graders collect different seeds in
various habitats, consider how plants
disperse seeds and think about how the
seeds might move in the habitat.
They also learn about refuge manage­ment
– such as controlling the dispersal
of nonnative reed canary grass seeds.
dards in math, English,
physical education, social
studies as well as science.
It builds on student knowl­edge
and experience
gained each year.
Students learn hands-on,
real-life research and data
collection techniques
related to management on
wildlife refuges. They also
have a chance to snowshoe
hike, fish and observe wild­life.
Teachers regularly
suggest additions and revi­sions
to the curriculum.
Some popular courses
include Prairie Insect
Students from East Union
Elementary School use nets
and buckets for Pond Insect
Investigation.
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the cost
The program hosted 3,039 student visits
during the 2010-11 school year. Busing
costs totaled roughly $13,600. Yearly busing
costs average about $350 per classroom.
In the first two years, nine refuge staff
hours are devoted to each partner
classroom. The time commitment drops
to six hours per class in the next three
partnership years as teachers become
prepared to lead their own classroom
pre-field trip activity. Additional admin­istrative
time is needed to purchase
materials and schedule field trips.
While one refuge staffer usually
presents the bulk of the field trip lesson,
refuge volunteers assist with small
group activities during each field trip.
Parent chaperones act as additional
small group leaders.
If you are interested in starting a
Refuge Partner School program, you can
download curriculum and other helpful
materials from http://www.fws.gov/
midwest/MinnesotaValley/refugeteach-ers/.
For more information, contact
Suzanne Trapp at 952-361-4502 or by
email, Suzanne_Trapp@fws.gov.
Minnesota valley National Wildlife Refuge partner School curriculum Matrix
Years 2-5 Fall Winter Spring
Kindergarten Habitat – Who Needs It? Who Goes There? Forests Are More than Trees
Grade 1 Tracking Nature through the Seasons Survivor: Minnesota Winter A Peek at Plants
Grade 2 Prairie Insects or Meet the Mammals WSI: Wildlife Scene Investigators Pond Investigation
Grade 3 Seeds on the Go! Tree Math or Bird’s Beaks & Adaptations How Animals Communicate or Wetland Safari
Grade 4 Migration Matters Winter Under a Microscope Water Canaries
Grade 5 Minnesota Biomes or Tracking Wildlife or Compass Crusade Landforms or Birding Basics
White-tailed Deer: How Many?
the Blue goose Bus Fund
School budgets have left many schools – especially those in low-income areas – unable to absorb busing costs. Indeed,
teachers have identified transportation costs as the number one barrier to the Refuge Partners Program. In response,
the non-profit Refuge Friends, Inc., which works with Minnesota Valley Refuge, established the Blue Goose Bus Fund.
Schools that join the program can apply for partial or total busing scholarship.
There are alternatives to funding by
a Refuge Friends organizations. In
response to dwindling school district
budgets, many foundations have
offered grants to support school
field trips. Even a 50:50 cost share
will entice schools to participate.
Fund your refuge’s share with grant
dollars and let the schools raise the
remaining funds.
Many parents have formed school
support organizations that assist
with raising funds for special proj­ects.
Businesses are often looking
for meaningful ways to contribute
to their community. Consider
working with local Audubon, Ducks
Unlimited, Optimists or Lions
Clubs chapters, among other non­profit
organizations.
Watching wetland birds at Bass
Ponds is a popular spring field
trip activity.
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1 2
the Smell of Marsh Mud:
Matagorda island National Wildlife Refuge
offering Multiple options for Hands-on Study of an ecosystem
by Karen Leggett
A barrier island along the coastal bend of texas that has no causeway,
highway or ferry for access, Matagorda island provides an unparalleled
opportunity both to protect natural resources and offer the hands-on environ­mental
educational experience that such an isolated ecosystem can offer.
Hundreds are taking advantage each
year as Aransas National Wildlife
Refuge Complex uses the island as a
key component of its environmental
education program.
Many of the schools served by the
refuge’s education program are primar­ily
Hispanic, and the students’ first
experience with the bay and the Gulf of
Mexico often occurs during a field trip.
“It is important that our future leaders
understand the interdependence of
the estuarine system and the need to
protect it. It is through field trips and
interaction that a true appreciation
and understanding can develop,” says
Aransas Refuge environmental educa­tion
specialist Tonya Nix.
The Science and Spanish Club Network
– a group of middle school clubs con­nected
to school districts and youth
organizations – brings teens to Aransas
Refuge, as does the Port Lavaca Water
Watchers Club, which reaches primarily
underserved urban Hispanic students.
estuary education
Aransas Refuge has the largest wetland
habitat in the northern part of the
Mission-Aransas National Estuarine
Research Reserve, a nationally desig­nated
complex of wetland, terrestrial
and marine environments. One purpose
of these reserves is to promote environ­mental
education about estuaries.
A young crane catches
a blue crab at Aransas
National Wildlife Refuge
in Texas. Students learn
the connections among
water quality, blue crabs
and cranes.
While educational field trips have gone
to Matagorda Island for decades, in
2008 Nix began meeting with other
environmental education professionals,
teachers and scientists from the Univer­sity
of Texas and Padre Island National
Seashore to outline shared educational
goals, including improved understand­ing
of Texas coastal ecosystems and
stewardship of coastal resources.
The goals are based on national science
standards and aligned with Texas
Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS)
objectives. The group identified objec­tives
and activities for each natural
area that did not overlap. “We want
visitors to have a unique experience at
Matagorda Island, not something they
can experience at Port Aransas or on
boats that go into the bay,” says Nix.
Matagorda Island provides an opportu­nity
to teach about the ecosystem of a
barrier island.
getting to the island and Staying there
When school, Scout or other groups
come to Matagorda Island, they spend
one or two nights in a rustic bunkhouse
originally used by cowboys when the
south end of the island was an active
cattle ranch. There is no charge for
the bunkhouse as long as it is being
used for environmental education.
Groups must bring their own bedding,
toiletries, drinking water and food; the
bunkhouse has a full kitchen, complete
with cooking supplies. Energy comes
from gas and solar panels.
Groups must also arrange their own
transportation to the island on private
charter boats. Nix says the students
with the Port Lavaca Water Watchers
Club save all year to pay for boats to
bring them to the island. She says the
refuge is considering seeking grants or
encouraging the Friends organization to
hold fundraisers to defray some of the
field trip expenses
The island has a small lab with locally
gathered specimens, a few microscopes,
plankton nets and viewers, and dis­secting
kits. Audio-visual equipment is
available in a small classroom.
Melinda Nielsen, who brings fifth- and
sixth-graders students from Bay Area
Montessori School in Houston, says,
“The venue is authentic and away from
home, enabling students to investigate
bay, marsh, coastal grassland, fresh­water
ponds, estuary and beach shore
areas all at once to see how they are
dependent on each other.”
From goals on paper to
Hands-on learning
When groups make plans for a Mata­gorda
Island field trip, they choose from
seven lesson plans, including a beach
habitat mini-course and a beginning
birding nature trek. Some plans existed
prior to the Mission-Aransas Reserve
collaboration. Others were adapted
from The Nature Conservancy, which
conducted programs on the island
before it became part of the refuge.
Nix teaches whichever lesson plan the
group chooses.
The Matagorda Island experience
is intended to teach students about
the value of the estuary as a nursery
for developing organisms and the
importance of the island as a feeding
source for migratory birds. Species are
observed and studied in their natural
habitats, allowing students to connect
with nature while learning the impor­tance
of working together to insure the
animals/habitats we have today are
here for future generations.
Each lesson plan includes a goal, objec­tive,
recommended age group, time and
season, as well as a very specific list of
the TEKS objectives met by that plan.
An eighth-grade TEKS requirement
Lance and Erin Willet
SpeciAl RepoRt: BRiNgiNg eNviRoNMeNtAl edUcAtioN to diveRSe AUdieNceS 1 3
Richard Gonzalez
www.shutterstock.com
Cleaning up beach debris requires hard work and
team work for students on Matagorda Island.
Beach Habitat Mini-course
The objectives of this course are to give participants an understanding of
the Gulf beach as an appealing but deceptively harsh habitat for resident
biota. Other objectives include:
• Learn to perceive the ecological zones on the beach.
• Find and identify some characteristic animals that live in each zone.
• Observe and discuss the adaptations that permit survival on the beach and
the food web that supports these resident creatures.
• Learn some ways that humans can disrupt the natural cycles on a beach.
Site: Gulf beach at Wynne Road
Recommended length: 2+ hrs
�
Recommended age: Grades 8-12 and adults
�
Recommended season/time: spring, summer, fall
�
Materials provided by refuge (except for personal clothing items)
• Outside clothes with sleeves and
long trousers to get wet to the
knees; wet shoes; hat; sun block.
• four slurpers
• four plastic jars
• four plastic cubes
• two hand nets
• two hand magnifiers
Sample activities and questions
• two 20-30 foot seines for the group
• two five-gallon buckets for the group
• thermometer
• refractometer
• megaphone
• group water jug
• First-aid kit with meat tenderizer
• 2-way radio
There are activities and questions related to several key wildlife species on
the beach – tiger beetle, beach hopper, sand digger, palp worm, mole grabs
and ghost crabs.
• Catch a tiger beetle in a plastic cube for observation. How does it tolerate
sun and heat? How about swimmers and fishermen?
• Find coquinas, the small clams living in the swash zone. Note the sturdy,
wedge-shaped shell adapted to the battering surf and shifting sand.
Children learn to identify ghost
crab tracks and burrows.
that could be met on Matagorda Island,
for example, is for students to conduct
field and laboratory investigations using
safe, environmentally appropriate and
ethical practices.
Another eighth-grade TEKS require­ment
is for students to learn about the
interdependence among living systems.
Aransas Refuge provides critical
habitat for the endangered whooping
crane, which depends on blue crabs as
a food source. So students learn about
the relationship between water quality
and blue crabs. “If the water is too
salty, blue crabs will not reproduce,”
explains Nix. “Blue crabs, and therefore
whooping cranes, are dependent on
water quality”
inquiry education
Nix guides students through each
lesson with a process called inquiry edu­cation.
When students are on the beach
but before they have started digging for
ghost crabs, they are asked to consider:
• What signs do you observe that tell us
that a critter lives in the sand?
• What critters do you think may live on
this beach? Why?
• How would living in a burrow be
beneficial to survival on the beach?
Ghost crabs dig down to the water
table. Students are asked to figure out
1 4
Students with the Science and
Spanish Club Network created their
own “flash mob dance,” which they
perform when Aransas Refuge has
an exhibit at local wildlife festivals.
the best place to dig to find ghost crabs.
Ultimately, they begin digging close
to the water. They are instructed to
handle their ghost crabs with care when
placing them into a jar and resuming
the conversation.
• How does the crab survive on
the beach?
• What special adaptations does the crab
have to survive in this environment?
• Does the crab have natural
camouflage?
• What would be the benefit of being
nocturnal?
• How might continual automobile traffic
affect ghost crabs populations?
Students observe a ghost crab with sci­entific
precision – the hard exoskeleton,
jointed legs, agile movements, special
hairs to absorb water from burrow
walls, gills that do not need constant
immersion in water, pop-up eyes with
near 360-degree visual field.
Ghost crabs feed mostly at night on
coquinas and smaller crabs. They are
preyed upon by birds, coyotes, badgers
and feral hogs. After measuring the
temperature of the surface and interior
of a burrow, students talk about the
advantage of being inside or outside the
burrow on a hot day.
You’re invited to a Flash Flock party
Aransas Refuge frequently hosts
teens in the Science and Spanish Club
Network (SSCN), a multicultural envi­ronmental
education project created by
the Gulf of Mexico Foundation.
SSCN clubs first came to the mainland
units of the refuge. Encouraged by
Nix, they now come to Matagorda
Island as well. Although Nix does use
a beach ecology curriculum with these
youngsters, they are more likely to
learn about the estuarine ecosystem
by working in it, doing service projects
like beach cleanup. SSCN teens have
Richard Gonzalez
“You see the light go off in kids’ eyes when they get it. they are not out there
trying to be cool. Marsh mud smells and they are getting wet and dirty while
learning. By the time they leave, they still have a little Matagorda island smell.”
tonya Nix
rebuilt a trail beaten down by alligators,
observed whooping crane habitat,
and – in six visits between 2009 and
2011 – picked up more than 30 tons of
trash from the Gulf coast shoreline.
In 2010, SSCN organized a Whooping
Crane Flash Flock Party to celebrate
both the refuge birthday and Tom
Stehn, the refuge’s recently retired
whooping crane biologist. Half the cel­ebrants
wore red, white and black while
Stehn showed up in the whooping crane
costume he used to work undercover
with the cranes. SSCN teens created
their own “flash mob dance,” which they
now perform when Aransas Refuge has
an exhibit at local wildlife festivals.
SSCN mentor and grant writer Richard
Gonzalez planned a Whoop Dance
Competition at the Aransas Pass
Shrimporee in June 2012, when Aransas
Refuge celebrated its 75th anniversary.
He has also sent Flash Flock Party Kits
to other national wildlife refuges with
whooping cranes (Quivira in Kansas,
Necedah in Wisconsin, Chassahowitza
and St. Marks in Florida) as well as
Wood Buffalo National Park in Canada,
where the Aransas flock spends the
summer. Both Quivira and St. Marks
Refuges are making plans to have kids
do The Whoop when the first cranes
arrive at their refuges.
The Flash Flock Party Kit includes
life-size wood cuts of cranes, smaller-than-
life size blue crabs and ideas for
creating an event that raises awareness
about the endangered status of North
America’s tallest bird, such as celebrat­ing
the day the cranes begin arriving
or leaving, building on-site science
displays, putting cranes on a parade
float or establishing a wildlife biologist
day. Gonzalez also believes The Whoop
should be just the first of many endan­gered
species theme songs and dances
developed by students – he says he’s
looking forward to the Kemp’s Ridley
Sea Turtle Mambo, the Ocelot Trot or
the Bison Bounce.
For information on Whooping Crane
Flash Flock Party Kits – or ideas on
adapting the party to other species –
contact Richard Gonzalez at Richard@
gulfmex.org.
SpeciAl RepoRt: BRiNgiNg eNviRoNMeNtAl edUcAtioN to diveRSe AUdieNceS 1 5
1 6
Journals and Jpgs
introducing Youth to Wildlife in colorado and Wyoming
By Karen Leggett
National elk Refuge is in its fifth year of partnering with multiple organizations to provide a structured program for
second-graders in two local elementary schools with large Hispanic populations. one is a nonprofit organization called
pARtners, which helps educators use art to enhance learning and invited the refuge to organize some field trips.
Lori Iverson, supervisory recreation
planner at National Elk Refuge,
thought it was a perfect chance for
“kids to learn a sense of place and use
journaling to watch a place change
throughout the seasons.” Iverson
participates in planning meetings
with several organizations, including
pARTners, all committed to creating
an interdisciplinary environmental
education program centered on visits
to or near the refuge. “It’s one large
program,” says Iverson, “with many
elements.”
During the first program in 2006,
professional artists and photographers
provided basic drawing and photog­raphy
lessons in the classroom to 150
children, who also learned how art can
be applied to science. Children brought
journals and cameras provided by the
Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival
on each trip to the refuge. They filled
their journals with stories and observa­tions
and created keepsake covers to
preserve their work. After each visit,
Film Festival staff gave students a 4x6
copy of one of their photos to put in the
journal. Each class also received digital
copies of all the student photos.
Seasonal visits to the Refuge
Before the first trip to the refuge in
October, a local geologist met students
in the classroom to introduce the
concept of how geology influences the
flora and fauna of a region. A geologist
also accompanied the students on their
The Jackson Hole Wildlife Film
Festival provided cameras and
journals for the children, who
filled the journals with stories and
observations and created keepsake
covers to preserve their work.
Students use
hand lenses and
an aquatic insect
chart to identify
food sources for the
birds they observed
earlier in the day.
visit to the refuge
to study such rock
formations as
Miller Butte.
Before the winter
visit to the refuge,
youngsters learned
USFWS
in the classroom
about the area’s
common mammals and the role of
predators in the ecosystem. This lesson
was provided by Beringia South, a
local nonprofit organization dedicated
to preservation of the natural environ­ment.
A refuge staff person visited the
classroom once to teach students about
elk migration and biology, including
winter survival habits, as well as appro­priate
ways to view wildlife to reduce
stress on the animals.
The winter visit to the refuge included
a sleigh ride during which students
identified the major Jackson Hole
landforms, learned to tell the difference
between mature male and female elk
and describe such elk behaviors as
mewing, bugling and sparring. They
also visited the feed shed to learn about
the refuge’s role in supplementing
winter feeding.
Classes in the spring focused on
raptors and migratory birds. Students
dissected pellets in the classroom to
identify the creatures being consumed
by birds. On the refuge, students identi­fied
birds at a wetland site.
open to change
The program created by National Elk
Refuge and its partners addresses at
least four state curriculum standards:
1. Students describe the landforms in
Jackson Hole.
2. Students learn about the interdepen­dence
of all living things.
3. Students learn how they are respon­sible
members of their community and
the environment around them.
4. Students understand the possible
hazards during scientific investigations
and practice safety procedures.
While lessons are designed to meet
these standards, the specifics may
change from year to year according
to the interests and capabilities of
participating organizations. In 2010,
for example, Gina Pasini, a seasonal
biological technician at Red Rock Lakes
National Wildlife Refuge in Montana,
spent a two-week detail at National Elk
Refuge developing learning stations for
the spring field trip.
USFWS
SpeciAl RepoRt: BRiNgiNg eNviRoNMeNtAl edUcAtioN to diveRSe AUdieNceS 1 7
Supervisory recreation planner Lori Iverson discusses nature journals with students.
At one station, a refuge volunteer
taught students how to use binoculars
and took them on a bird walk. At the
second station, Pasini focused on bird
beaks and foods. After a short lesson
about how beaks are adapted for the
food a bird eats, children used hand
lenses to identify aquatic insects that
had been scooped from the water by
student volunteer Cord Schultz, who
was completing 40 hours of required
community service on the refuge. Then
Pasini prepared a “macroinvertebrate
soup” with the insects available nearby.
Making School collaborations Work
Iverson, a former teacher herself,
believes there are several keys to
initiating and maintaining effective
partnerships with schools.
Find out what a particular school
or teacher needs. “Teachers always get
requests from people who want to come
into their classroom. As an environmen­tal
educator, you have to ask, ‘What
can I do for you?’ rather than, ‘Here’s
something I have for you.’”
Communicate with teachers regu­larly
– typically with one lead teacher
from each school.
Make sure lessons are aligned
with curriculum objectives, which are
usually established by states and local
school districts; many states are now
adopting national core standards. These
standards are available online and
might include such objectives as, “Stu­dents
communicate the basic needs of
living things and their connection to the
environment.” Some states, including
California and Maryland, have specific
environmental literacy standards.
Don’t just look at science
standards; teach to other subject areas
wherever you can, especially language
arts, social studies or math. Iverson
always tries to mention other subjects
she knows teachers must cover: “Adap­tation.
That’s a big word – let’s spell
it. Or perhaps, if there is a food source
available, but it’s a long ways away, an
USFWS
animal may not go to get it. If there are
1,000 calories of food but they’re 500
yards away, how much energy will the
animal expend to get the food?”
Before visiting a classroom, focus
some attention on classroom manage­ment.
Find out if there are children
with disabilities who need accommoda­tions,
if there are behavioral issues, or
if some children don’t speak English.
cameras in Action at
Rocky Mountain Arsenal
Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wild­life
Refuge in Commerce City, CO, has
also used cameras with grand effect –
including student photos displayed in the
rotunda of the state capitol in Denver.
In 2008, former refuge education
specialist Stacy Armitage contacted
Pentax, headquartered in nearby
Golden, seeking someone who could
co-teach a photography class. Instead,
Pentax donated 10 cameras, lenses
and memory cards. David Showalter,
a professional photographer who was
taking pictures on the refuge for a
book, agreed to volunteer his skills for
a refuge photography program with
at-risk youth. Cameras in Action began
as a three-day summer workshop to
connect kids to nature.
“I didn’t know how important it was
until I started doing it,” said Showalter,
who photographed the refuge for his
book Prairie Thunder. “Give kids a
camera, and it completes the circuit
between them and nature. They start
crawling around and bringing back a lot
of intimate landscapes. It’s almost like
they are hard-wired to explore.”
The program targets 15- to 17-year-olds,
often minorities, both from area high
“If you put a cam-era
in someone’s
hands, they have
to look at the world
more closely,”
says photography
instructor David
Showalter.
David Showalter
1 8
schools and The Link, a local resource
center for at-risk young people.
The executive director’s husband
volunteered at the refuge. About 16
students participate each year. The
program took a break in 2011 while the
refuge finished its new visitor center.
In 2012, the refuge will offer a two-day
workshop for high school students plus
a two-day program for middle school
students, which is a more appropriate
match for the youngsters served by
The Link. The changes were made to
spread scarce resources as broadly as
possible and continue the successful
partnership with The Link.
Two-day workshops mean time is of
the essence. “Maximize time in the
field,” emphasizes Showalter. “There
is no reason to spend time learning
Photoshop™ when we can get kids in
the field or photographing a detail of
a bird feather in the visitor center.”
The teens work in pairs, each team
named for a refuge animal. Armed with
cameras and field guides, the teams are
expected to return with observations
written in a notebook, information from
a field guide – and ideally – photos
of their team’s critter. At the end of
the day, they gather to evaluate each
other’s photos.
Each student has a camera – a high-end
digital SLR in this case. But Van
Dreese cautions, “The more elaborate
the camera, the more knowledgeable
the instructor must be. A simple point
and shoot could be most useful. I don’t
know that a specific camera is what
makes this program so successful.
In fact, I sometimes find our fancy
cameras have too many functions and
confuse the kids.”
Workshop participants choose their
best photo for display in the Colorado
State Capitol Building, an opportunity
arranged by a refuge volunteer who
also volunteered at the Capitol. The
Friends of the Front Range – the
refuge Friends organization – paid to
have each photo framed; the framed
photos are later auctioned by the
Friends as a fundraiser. Participants
take home a framed photo as well as a
CD of all their photos and 10 prints of
any size they choose. They also receive
a certificate showing themselves taking
pictures.
“The presentation at the capitol was a
big deal,” says L.A. Rogers, assistant
director at The Link. “We work with
a lot of lower income youth who don’t
always have opportunities. Being
trained by a professional photographer
and being able to pick a picture to
share – every kid was at the capitol
with a parent or representative. This
was definitely on the ‘cool’ spectrum!”
Showalter acknowledges that everyone,
even professional photographers,
“needs affirmation and a sense of accom­plishment,”
but he perceives a larger
purpose for Cameras in Action as well.
“If you put a camera in someone’s hands,
they have to look at the world more
closely. We need to light a lot of sparks
or we are going to have a conservation
void in the future.”
Refuge volunteer
Jim Snyder points
out a bird’s nest
in the cattails to
a group of young
naturalists.
USFWS
SpeciAl RepoRt: BRiNgiNg eNviRoNMeNtAl edUcAtioN to diveRSe AUdieNceS 1 9
2 0
infused with Wildlife
teaching Refuges to All Students
By Karen Leggett
Barrett Elementary School
Barrett Elementary School
While some schools offer foreign language immersion programs, Kate Waller
Barrett elementary School in Arlington, vA, offered Refuge System immersion
in 2011-12. Nearly every subject, special event, field trip and family activity
was infused with national wildlife refuges, wildlife or habitat conservation
and … puddles, the Refuge System mascot.
Barrett Elementary is an urban school
just outside Washington, D.C., with 510
students in grades K-5. Almost half do
not speak English as their first language
and more than half are eligible for free
or reduced-price lunches. Two teachers
with boundless energy and imagination
– Laurie Sullivan and Allyson Greene –
oversee Barrett Elementary’s Project
Discovery, in which students delve deeply
into such topics as NASA, engineering
and now wildlife. They get strong support
from the school librarian, classroom
teachers and principal.
Sullivan submitted a year’s worth of
activities, projects and curriculum to
the ToyotaTAPESTRY grant program,
with a letter of support from the
Refuge System. Barrett Elementary
won a $10,000 Toyota grant that has
been spent primarily on computers;
digital cameras; an honorarium for
nature photographer Corey Hilz, who
taught the children about the elements
of design and fundamentals of nature
photography; transportation for field
trips; postage stamps and other miscel­laneous
supplies. Another $2,000 grant
from the ING investment company paid
for binoculars and additional cameras.
Most of the projects required more
creativity, time and enthusiasm than
money, although the Refuge System’s
Washington Office provided significant
quantities of brochures, banners,
Refuge Week posters, Refuge System
coloring books, stickers, pens, other
educational items and speakers on
numerous occasions.
Teachers Cristina Torres and Laurie
Sullivan help children practice
costume-rearing whooping crane chicks.
The school learned in spring 2011 that
it had won the Toyota grant and so
prepared the student body for the ref­uges-
filled curriculum that beckoned for
the next school year. As children were
itching to end school in June 2011, the
Refuge System mascot Puddles danced
through a school assembly, leading
everyone in a loud and lively rendition of
Rock the Refuge (on YouTube at http://
bit.ly/xyB8Dl). The song was written by
Wendy Cohen, a resource teacher for
gifted students, and reprised throughout
the 2011 - 2012 school year. Children
were encouraged to take photos of
their outdoor adventures during the
summer – and even visit nearby wildlife
refuges – while teachers were invited to
training sessions.
prepping Students and teachers
About a dozen teachers came to Patux­ent
Research Refuge in Maryland for
a half-day workshop that included a
tram ride through forest, wetland and
meadow habitats, viewing displays
in the visitor center and discussing
lessons to be used before, during and
after field trips. On another occasion,
Potomac River National Wildlife
Refuge Complex park ranger Patricia
Wood led about two dozen Barrett
teachers in a Project WILD workshop.
Each teacher received the Project
WILD Curriculum and Activity Guide,
which is aligned with the Virginia
Standards of Learning.
When it was time for third- and
fifth-graders to visit Patuxent Refuge
in the fall, they were ready. Barrett
Elementary librarian Margaret Frick
had children research plants and birds
they would find at Patuxent Refuge;
refuge staff remarked on the student’s
level of preparation.
Students mailed letters to family mem-bers,
friends and other refuges asking
them to send back photos of Flat Puddles
on a national wildlife refuge.
Before the year was over, Barrett
students would also visit Elizabeth
Hartwell Mason Neck and Occoquan
Bay National Wildlife Refuges in
Virginia. When fourth-graders were
hiking through Mason Neck Refuge
and State Park in November, they took
photos of plants and landscape, such as
an eroding hill with a tree about to fall,
water flowing over one part of the trail,
leaves or fungus on a tree. One student
in each hiking group recorded the exact
location of each item or specimen. In
April, fourth-graders visited the refuge
again, carrying laminated cards of the
photos and the precise location. As they
found each item in this digital scav­enger
hunt, students had to note any
changes they could observe. Students
also visited Occoquan Bay Refuge to
participate in bird banding.
Throughout the year, Barrett Elemen­tary’s
activities were chronicled in an
extensive blog (http://tinyurl.com/Bar-rettNature),
a Facebook page (http://
tinyurl.com/BarrettNatureFacebook),
photos posted on Flickr (www.flickr.
com/photos/projectdiscovery/) and
videos on YouTube (www.YouTube.com/
BarrettNature).
SpeciAl RepoRt: BRiNgiNg eNviRoNMeNtAl edUcAtioN to diveRSe AUdieNceS 2 1
On a giant map of the United States, Puddles “drove” a school bus through several states
every time the children read another 5,000 books. Reading is the fuel for the bus to pass
First-graders learned what is happen­ing
to polar bears on Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge. Second-graders used
a Build-a-Bird application on iPads that
required them to select the right beaks,
wings, habitat and body for several spe­cific
birds. Third-graders are learning
about energy and renewable resources.
They will use their new knowledge
to become “energy consultants” and
suggest ways for refuges to use more
renewable resources of energy.
Fourth-graders prepared presentations
for second-graders, including video
clips and PowerPoint and in one case,
a puppet show with marionettes fash­ioned
from the animals in the coloring
book. The students evaluated each pre­sentation,
deciding whether it answered
questions in a memorable way: What
is a wildlife refuge? What wildlife can
be found there? What habitats can be
Barrett Elementary School
Barrett Elementary School
found there? What do people do on a
by more and more national wildlife refuges.
day by day in the classroom
Principal Terry Bratt challenged
students to read 60,000 books during
the school year. On a giant map of the
United States, Puddles “drove” a school
bus through several states every time
the children read another 5,000 books.
Reading is the fuel for the bus to pass
by more and more national wildlife
refuges. One fourth-grader came into
the Discovery Lab and looked longingly
at the book America’s Wildlife Refuges:
Lands of Promise. “I’ve been waiting
to read this book,” he said. “There are
so many refuges, I don’t know how I’m
going to get to them all.”
Sullivan and Greene collaborated with
classroom teachers to incorporate
refuge information, themes and activi­ties
into many curriculum areas, always
making sure that they were helping
teachers meet Virginia’s Standards
of Learning curriculum objectives. As
with most state standards, the objec­tives
spiral through the grades, with
children first learning about animals,
then habitats and environments, then
interactions among species.
“We could easily see that through the
refuges, we could teach major concepts
such as habitats, ecosystems, plants,
animals, seasons and human impact
on environments,” said Sullivan. “We
could envision students learning about
the jobs refuge managers and wildlife
biologists carry out. The students could
replicate the science and mathematics
skills that are used on the job, such
as observation, data collection, data
analysis and sharing results.”
One kindergarten lesson focused on two
questions: What is a wildlife refuge?
What is a habitat? Youngsters learned
to use tally marks to track each piece
of information they learned about an
animal’s habitat (food, water, shelter,
space). They learned about refuges
from the Refuge System coloring book
that was given to each child.
Kindergartners pretended to be whoop­ing
cranes migrating through the halls
of Barrett Elementary – an iMovie
of their frenzied fluttering is online.
Barrett Elementary
students learned
about the entire
Refuge System,
including Kîlauea
Point National
Wildlife Refuge in
Hawai’i, as they
received photos and
information in re-sponse
to their letter
writing campaign.
wildlife refuge? Why are wildlife refuges
important?
Fifth-graders, who traditionally
produce a bound “treasure book” filled
this year’s books with their own nature
writing and photos.
Special events
Special days and family activity nights
also featured refuges at Barrett
Elementary. National Fire & Emergency
Response Advisor Fred Wetzel, marine
specialist Brett Wolfe, and birding
specialist Michael Carlo all attended
Career Day from the Washington Office.
Greene said there was a noticeable
increase in the number of students who
could envision working in nature- or
science-related fields. One first-grader
wants to be a mycologist because “she
had learned the word and liked fungus,”
explained Greene with a smile. A mother
asked how to say “forest ranger” in
Spanish.
2 2
The Rock the Refuge Celebration and
Science Discovery Fair in February
featured a chance to take a photo with
Puddles, several participants from the
Refuge System Washington Office, a
live raptor show, a bird migration game
in the gym, and animal and nature
projects in the Discovery Lab and the
library.
Flat puddles
Librarian Frick used Flat Puddles as a
springboard to help children and their
families learn about refuges all over
the country. Based on the Flat Stanley
children’s books, Flat Puddles is a flat
paper image of the blue goose. In their
science enrichment class, students
mailed Flat Puddles with a standard
letter to friends, family members and
other refuges asking them to “Please
take this picture of a Blue Goose to a
wildlife refuge near you. … Find a great
spot to take a picture of Flat Puddles
experiencing the outdoors.” Students
used both traditional postal mail
(with $176 worth of postage stamps!)
and email with a specially created
account for PuddlesBGoose@gmail.
com. The response was tremendous and
immediate.
More than 500 digital photos were
sent from students’ family and friends
after they visited distant refuges or
from refuges themselves. Refuges sent
stamps, brochures and a promise to
send Flat Puddles to another refuge.
Frick used each email or letter as an
opportunity to introduce the youngest
children to research. They would locate
the refuge in a state, find out a little
bit of information about the state and
learn about an animal that lived on the
refuge.
Michael Carlo, a Refuge System visitor
services specialist who participated in
several events at Barrett Elementary,
believes the year-long involvement
with refuges “created continuity, not
just a memory.” Carlo especially liked
the powerful and visible connection
that was made when several Refuge
Third-graders wrote new lyrics to a
popular song and danced during a pep
rally to kick off a year-long celebration
of national wildlife refuges at Barrett
Elementary School.
System staffers showed up for a single
event, like the science night devoted
entirely to conservation. If the entire
Barrett Elementary program seems
overwhelming, Carlo recommends that
a refuge work with a single school to
identify five goals or activities to accom­plish
in a single year. Then evaluate the
outcomes before deciding to continue
for another year.
To get the kind of results seen at
Barrett Elementary, Sullivan suggests
that refuges contact the science lead
teacher or the person in charge of
the science curriculum for the entire
district. Teacher meetings offer
refuge staff a chance to speak about
partnership opportunities or provide
simple fliers: “Would your kids like
to see deer antlers? We have a lesson
that meets your curriculum standards.”
Simple, printed material is more likely
to be read than emails, say the Barrett
teachers.
“Make sure teachers have an oppor­tunity
to say what they would like to
see as part of any project,” advises
Sullivan. “Teachers at every grade level
at Barrett saw our proposal before it
was submitted.” She also mentioned the
particular appeal of Puddles and small
educational items – like pencils, cal­endars,
stickers and all those coloring
books – that children can take home.
Barrett Elementary concluded the
school year with a Rock the Refuge
assembly showcasing students’ refuge-related
creations. “The Refuge System
is a priceless gift, reflecting the great
diversity of the tapestry of life and the
commitment of the United States to
wildlife conservation,” wrote Sullivan
in her grant application, quoting from
the Smithsonian Book of National
Wildlife Refuges by Eric Jay Dolin. “We
hope as a result of this project that our
students, parents, educators and the
community will better appreciate this
gift and care for it in the future.”
to get the kind of results seen at Barrett elementary, Sullivan suggests that
refuges contact the science lead teacher or the person in charge of the science
curriculum for the entire district. teacher meetings offer refuge staff a chance
to speak about partnership opportunities.
Barrett Elementary School
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A student learns by doing,
becoming comfortable in the
natural habitat around him.
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Building environmental literacy one class at a time
From 26 Students to 320 in three Years
By Karen Leggett
For the past three years, every student in third- through sixth-grade at imperial
Beach elementary School has come to units of the San diego National Wildlife
Refuge complex in california twice a year – 320 students from an urban,
predominantly minority, low-income school who receive rarely offered hands-on
instruction about wildlife and habitat.
It all started with one teacher who
wanted her fourth-graders to know
about the natural world around them.
“Students learn about how to take care
of this habitat,” said Cheryl Evans. “It
is literally in some of their backyards.”
Gradually more grade levels began
coming to the refuge and they came
more frequently.
Third-graders come to Tijuana Slough
Refuge and the Sweetwater Marsh
Unit of San Diego Bay Refuge to
learn about estuaries. In fourth-grade,
they go to San Diego Refuge to learn
about riparian habitats and the impact
of upriver activity downriver. By
fifth-grade, youngsters are learning
about the water quality in the bay by
visiting San Diego Bay Refuge and
learning about oak woodland habitat at
Crestridge Ecological Reserve (a state
partner). They are also able to see that
the coastal sage scrub they planted in
fourth-grade is growing. By sixth-grade,
they are teaching each other: “Oh, don’t
you remember when we went there and
did this?” “I planted over here.” “This is
where I learned to use binoculars.”
A curriculum has been created for
each refuge or refuge unit. San Diego
Refuge Complex environmental educa­tion
specialist Chantel Jimenez worked
with teachers to write the curriculum
and update it to meet changing state
objectives. This year for the first time,
California teachers must meet specific
requirements in environmental literacy.
Third-graders, for example, must learn
about “structures for survival in a
healthy ecosystem;” sixth-graders are
to learn about the “dynamic nature
of rivers.” The curriculum also meets
state standards and objectives in other
subject areas, such as language arts
and social studies.
Salt Marsh Bingo
The teacher’s guide for each refuge
includes activities (with detailed
procedures and required materials), a
glossary and background information.
One activity uses a specially made
bingo game to teach salt marsh plant
adaptations. Students receive a hand
lens and a bingo card with pictures of
different wetland plants. Some plants
are excreters, some accumulators. The
hand lens enables children to see salt
crystals on any plants that are excret­ers.
As they would for a scavenger
hunt, students search the salt marsh for
plants shown on the bingo cards. They
have to identify three in a row and
then show their classmates where they
found the plants.
After the bingo game, students choose
one salt marsh plant to observe more
carefully, recording specific information
on observation sheets that ask such ques­tions
as, “Where is your plant found? Is
the soil wet or dry? Is your plant slender
or bushy? Are the leaves thick or thin?
Sticky, waxy or hairy? Children also have
room on their observation sheets to draw
a picture of their plant.
For the teachers, the guide explains
words like halophyte (a plant that
grows in salty or alkaline soil), excreter
Barren land becomes green one year after students plant coastal sage scrub.
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By the time children come as sixth-graders,
they are more engaged. Not only
are they prepared to get wet, but they can
also talk about cord grass and plankton,
not just bugs and leaves. “Their hands
come up quicker to answer questions,”
says Jimenez. There is pride of ownership.
“I heard a kid say that he brought his
mom to water his plants in the summer.”
value of Multiple visits
“We need programs that don’t take
much time, aren’t too expensive and
build upon knowledge from previous
years,” says Jimenez. Jimenez acknowl­edges
the value of being at a refuge
that is on a public trolley line as an
important way to reduce transportation
costs. Eventually, Jimenez hopes to
train a cadre of volunteers or docents
who can also be environmental educa­tors
on the refuge.
Each of the refuge’s educational
experiences is available to any school.
Teachers may choose Sweetwater
Safari or Tijuana Estuary Explorers –
or both. Typically, 12 to 20 classes come
to the refuge each year to do a single
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A big key to success in initiating a school-wide program is to start small and
have a champion at the school.
and accumulator with examples of each.
Picklewood stores salt, sea lavender
excretes salt. There is also a brief dis­cussion
of how plants survive in salt so
that teachers have an understanding of
the science their students are expected
to learn. Both students and teachers
can also learn the same information
visually in the refuge exhibit hall.
getting Started
A big key to success in initiating a
school-wide program is to start small
and have a champion at the school.
“We started with one classroom of 26
students with one teacher and it grew
from there. There were money issues,
grants that didn’t come through. But
it will happen if you have good people
on your team. Take time to find those
people,” advises Jimenez, adding that
“to have a school that is dedicated to
taking time out of the classroom says
a lot about the value of this program.
And it all started with one teacher.”
Teacher Cheryl Evans credits Jimenez
as well. “This works because Chantel
and I work closely together and coor­dinate
our efforts. She makes sure the
refuge is ready for us and I make sure
the teachers know what is expected of
them.”
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Jimenez provides a half-day of training
for the teachers before students appear.
“The teachers learn what the students
learn,” says Jimenez. “What is a tidal
salt marsh? What habitats and plants
will kids see? What science objectives
are they meeting?” Teachers often feel
they don’t have the expertise to lead
a field trip on their own, so Jimenez’
training is intended to enable them to
answer a few questions without feeling
as if they need to be the expert.
The San Diego Refuge education
program is funded with grants from
Sempa Energy Foundation and the
California Wetlands Recovery Program,
as well as smaller grants and help
with transportation funding from the
Friends of San Diego Refuge. Most of
the instructors are contractors from
the Earth Discovery Institute and paid
by the refuge.
program.
Jimenez has concluded that “multiple
trips in a year and multiple visits over
several years have had a greater impact
on the students’ connection with nature
and desire to be outside.” Jimenez is
thrilled when children have an “awe”
moment: doing science in the field,
putting a plankton net in the water and
realizing it is full of living creatures –
creatures they didn’t want to touch at
first.
By the time children come as sixth-graders,
they are more engaged. Not
only are they prepared to get wet, but
they can also talk about cord grass
and plankton, not just bugs and leaves.
“Their hands come up quicker to answer
questions,” says Jimenez. There is
pride of ownership. “I heard a kid say
that he brought his mom to water his
plants in the summer.”
Evans also believes there is long-term
value in helping children feel comfort­able
in the natural habitat surrounding
them. “There are signs posted saying
that we have planted in certain areas.
Former students are always coming
over to tell me what they see when they
go over to the refuge. And one student
always says, ‘this is the best field trip
ever,’ each time we go.”
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Field lesson: Salt Marsh plants
teAcHeR’S NoteS
duration
40 minutes
location
Outside next to Salt
Marsh Plants
Halophyte
(hal e fit) A plant that
grows in salty or
alkaline soil
excreter
Releases or gets rid
of salt
Accumulator
Holds in salt
Marsh succulents
like Jaumea and
pickleweed store salt
inside their tissues
Salt grass excretes
salt onto its leaves
Alkali heath is
another marsh grass
that excretes salt
cordgrass
excretes salt
Sea lavender
excretes salt
overview
This activity uses a specially made
bingo game to teach salt marsh plant
adaptations. Students will choose one
salt marsh plant to observe and record
in their journal.
objectives
Students will:
• Be able to distinguish how salt marsh
plants adapt to a salty environment.
• Know the difference between accu­mulator
and excreter; describe the
physical characteristics of both.
• Learn two endangered bird species
that are dependent on salt marsh
plants.
Materials
• Salt marsh plant sign
• Explorer plant backpack:
• Bingo cards
• Bingo card pieces
• Hand lenses
• Explorer journal
Background
Salt marsh plants live in a very extreme
environment. Salt marshes are places
where salt water from the ocean fills up
the marsh daily during the high tides.
The plants that live here must deal with
this daily influx of water and salt. They
are unique in that they have special
adaptations to living with high quanti­ties
of salt.
procedure
1. Before explaining the rules of the
bingo game, give a hand lens to each
student. Explain that the hand lens
will allow them to see salt crystals on
the excreters or any other detail.
2. Explain the rules of the bingo game.
3. Each pair of students gets a bingo
card (all the cards are the same).
The cards have pictures of different
wetland plants. Each plant is either
an excreter or an accumulator.
4. One plant is not an excreter or
accumulator (salt marsh bird’s beak).
This plant is located in the upper
middle box on the bingo sheet.
5. Explain that this plant is endangered
and therefore we are not allowed to
be near it. This space on the card is
a “freebie” for everyone. The green
bingo card piece goes on the salt
marsh bird’s beak space.
6. The other bingo card pieces are to
block out other squares on the card.
Some pieces have a clapper rail and
some have the Belding’s savannah
sparrow. Clapper rail pieces go on
excreter plants marked “excreter.”
Savannah sparrows go on accumula­tor
plants marked “accumulator.”
7. Each pair of students tries to find
the plants on the bingo cards on
their own in the salt marsh like a
scavenger hunt. They will have to get
at least three in a row and be able to
share with the class where they found
them. Define the boundaries of where
they can go.
8. After the plant bingo, each student
picks one plant to observe and takes
notes in a field journal using the
provided observation sheets.
Students choose one salt marsh plant to
observe more carefully – such as this salt
marsh bird’s beak plant – and answer
such questions as, “Where is your plant
found? Are the leaves thick or thin?
Sticky, waxy or hairy?”
Lisa Cox
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George Gentry
environmental learning =
one trail + Many partners
By Heather Dewar
What does it take to teach the children of hard-pressed immigrant farm
workers how to do science and feel at home in wilderness? At Florida panther
National Wildlife Refuge near Naples, Fl, it takes a refuge trail and a carefully-crafted
set of hands-on lessons in scientific fieldwork, designed in partnership
with local teachers, the Florida department of environmental protection (dep),
and the staffs of nearby parks and reserves.
Florida Panther Refuge and another
Florida refuge, St. Marks National
Wildlife Refuge in the Florida
Panhandle, are among the field sites
participating in 18 localized versions
of the state’s Learning In Florida’s
Environment (LIFE) program. Now in
its eighth year, the program seeks to
boost middle school students’ science
achievement and environmental aware­ness,
placing priority on schools where
poverty rates are high and scores on
state achievement tests are low.
Participating schools work with the
state and with educators from various
outdoor sites to develop a yearlong
environmental science curriculum,
anchored by field excursions to several
sites where the children collect, record
and analyze basic ecological data. The
Big Cypress Watershed Project, which
includes Florida Panther Refuge as a
field station, is one of the LIFE pro­gram’s
busiest sites. In November and
December, some 550 seventh-graders
from three Collier County middle
schools take turns visiting the refuge
for a day of field observations and a
dollop of educational play.
Students learn how differences
in elevation and plant life affect
where panthers prefer to hunt.
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Though Naples is known as a wealthy
enclave, many students in the LIFE
program have parents who work in low-paying
service industries, or as migrant
farm workers. Immokalee Middle
School, for example, is in the heart of
South Florida’s winter vegetable belt,
where the local radio station broadcasts
in Spanish, Haitian Creole and two
Mayan languages, and 40 percent of the
population lives on incomes below the
federal poverty line.
“Most of the students have parents who
work two or three jobs to put food on
the table,” said Florida Panther Refuge
ranger Sandy Mickey. “They can’t
afford family trips to the beach, so any
chance to spend time in nature is a
major life experience for them.”
customized lesson plans
The LIFE program’s constant is hands-on
data collection, centered on basics
such as air and water temperature,
humidity, wind speed, water depth
and salinity. Customized lesson plans
teach students how to use that data as
another way of seeing the landscape,
and understanding how plants and
animals survive in it. For example, in
one field exercise students propose
a hypothesis about the role of soil
moisture (or another abiotic factor)
in determining what plants grow in
a particular spot, and then measure
soil moisture to test their hypotheses.
In South Florida, where a few inches’
change in elevation spells the difference
between a pine-forested upland, a
sawgrass prairie and a watery cypress
slough, there are lots of possibilities.
As the only environmental educator on
a refuge that is mostly closed to the
public, Mickey recruits helpers from
the refuge staff, the LIFE program,
other environmental learning centers,
and participating schools. “Even the
school bus drivers get involved,” she
said.
Classes are split into two groups. Half
gather data in habitats that support
dozens of varieties of native orchids,
bromeliads and other epiphytes. Many
have never seen plants growing
anywhere other than a field, and
are astonished by the refuge’s wild
abundance of epiphytes, which in some
places cover virtually every limb of
every tree.
The others collect data in three
different habitats – a wet prairie, a
tropical hardwood hammock, and a pine
flatwood. They learn how elevation
determines the plant community; how
plants create a microclimate; and how
those factors combine to determine
where panthers prefer to hunt for
white-tailed deer and where they hide
out with their cubs.
“We see panther tracks pretty often,”
Mickey said, and the children respond
with “complete enthusiasm and awe...
The really cool part of the program is
getting them out on the trail and watch­ing
their eyes light up” when the data
come alive.
After a morning of data gathering and
lunch, the students set aside their data
sheets “to blow off steam before they
get back on the bus,” Mickey said. For
the afternoon’s more rambunctious
learning sessions, Mickey has tweaked
the classic game of tag.
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Role playing
In one version half the children play
the role of Florida panthers traveling
through their home range, while the
other kids play obstacles the children
encounter on the way, such as highways,
mercury contamination, prey shortages,
or other cats defending their home
ranges. By game’s end the children
have learned about threats facing the
endangered panthers and the impor­tance
of wildlife corridors.
In the other activity, half the children
play the part of fire, while the other
half don red shirts to play wildland
firefighters, who try to keep the “fire”
confined in a marked-off square. The
students experiment with various
fire control measures to even out the
game – moving pylons to simulate
bulldozed fire lines or calling in an
imaginary aerial water drop, carried
out by a student who swoops across
the field wearing a helicopter pilot’s
helmet. By the game’s end, the children
have learned about the principles of
prescribed burning, Mickey said.
The games “have been really effective
at getting the students to run around
and burn off some energy but also to
learn while they’re playing,” said David
Graff, coordinator for the LIFE Big
Cypress Watershed Project.
The LIFE program is flexible enough
to accommodate sites as different as St.
Marks Refuge, an environmental educa­tion
powerhouse that offers programs
to thousands of people each year, and
Florida Panther Refuge, which has
limited public access and – aside from
a few special events each year – offers
fewer programs and recreational
activities.
Each program shares common
elements, said Misty Alderman, an
environmental education specialist who
coordinates the LIFE program for the
Florida Department of Environmental
Protection. Among them are:
Multiple visits to outdoor sites,
each with its own set of unique field
labs;
Localized content, collaboratively
designed to mesh with teachers’
curricula;
Lesson plans that incorporate
the fieldwork into science, math, social
studies and even language classes;
Pre- and post-visit testing to
confirm that students have learned the
key concepts; and
Teacher training to implement the
lesson plans and follow up on student
outcomes.
Participating teachers spend two full
days going over the field activities in
detail, Graff said. At the start of the
program, teachers walk through the
field activities, either in a classroom or,
if possible, at one of the sites their stu­dents
will visit. The teachers collect the
data, test the sampling equipment and
note any changes in the lesson plans.
When the semester ends the teachers
Florida Panther National Wildlife
Refuge participates in Florida’s LIFE
(Learning In Florida’s Environment)
program, in which students collect,
record and analyze basic ecological
data on the refuge.
go over the students’ data sheets in
detail, assessing which ones succeeded
in their teaching objectives and which
ones need to be modified.
What does it cost?
Start-up costs for LIFE programs vary,
but a bare-bones price tag to establish
the program in three middle schools is
around $5,000, not including the state
LIFE program staffers’ time. It costs
about $2,000 per year to sustain a LIFE
program serving 150 students, with
most of that money going to provide
bus transportation, Alderman said.
In these days of lean school budgets,
the state does not pick up the tab. The
DEP’s LIFE staff helps school districts
obtain grants from various state and
federal sources. NOAA’s Bay Water­shed
Education and Training (B-WET)
program has funded the LIFE program
at Florida Panther Refuge for three
years. Some sites receive one-year
state grants.
The Florida DEP points to students’
higher math and science scores in
internal tests and, for some schools, on
statewide achievement tests as well.
In a modified version of tag, half
the children play the part of fire,
while the other half play wildland
firefighters trying to keep the “fire”
confined in a marked-off square.
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“We see panther tracks pretty often,” Sandy Mickey said, and the children
respond with “complete enthusiasm and awe. … the really cool part of the
program is getting them out on the trail and watching their eyes light up”
when the data come alive.
For example, in 2010, the year after
the first group of Immokalee Middle
School seventh-graders completed
the program, about one-fourth of the
school’s eighth-graders passed the
state-mandated science achievement
test. That might be considered a sad
result, but it’s a 92 percent improve­ment
over the school’s passing rate the
year before.
There’s no proof of cause and effect,
but Florida DEP surveys found that
in 2010, 95 percent of the teachers
participating in the LIFE program felt
it boosted their students’ achievement
test scores.
Students also give the program a
thumbs-up. In 2010, 61 percent said the
program made them more comfortable
outdoors; 79 percent said the field
work was fun; 80 percent said the field
activities helped them understand their
science lessons better; and 81 percent
agreed that “the outdoor field activities
have made me more aware of how my
actions affect the environment.” When
asked for details, the students replied
with specifics like, “turn off lights when
I’m not using them,” “clean up dog poop
even if it’s not my dog poop,” “plant
some local flowers around my house,”
and “respect Earth.”
Environmental educators at refuges
and elsewhere can use the program’s
free field lab outlines, which are site-specific,
but can be adapted to other
locations. To see the field labs, go to the
LIFE program web page – www.dep.
state.fl.us/secretary/ed/lifeprogram.htm
– find the list of participating sites, and
click each site’s links to see its unique
content.
Lesson plans incorporate
science, math, social studies,
language – and sometimes a
canoe ride – into field trips
to Florida Panther National
Wildlife Refuge.
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Nature in the city
the garden that an ee partnership Built
By Karen Leggett
longstreth elementary School teacher chuck lafferty, who grew up near
pennsylvania’s tinicum Marsh, now has a kindergarten classroom full of bugs
and reptiles. it’s all part of making the marsh and nearby John Heinz National
Wildlife Refuge at tinicum key parts of his kindergarten curriculum at the inner-city
school where one father says most kids don’t have anything to do with nature.
Central to Lafferty’s curriculum is a
pollinator garden at the refuge, which
the students started and maintain.
Lafferty calls the connection between
the children and the refuge “a shining
example of what is possible when a
group of dedicated and devoted people
get together.” Refuge manager Gary
Stolz agrees on the importance of part­nering
with “teachers who have the
spark. Then help them get the materials
they need any way they can. You need
shared ownership in these projects.”
In addition to the school and the refuge,
others involved in the partnership have
included the Refuge Friends organization,
the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society,
National Fish and Wildlife Foundation,
Penn State University Master Garden­ers
and Project BudBurst. For example,
Longstreth Elementary School had a
partnership with the Pennsylvania
Horticultural Society, which donated
soil for a vegetable garden at the school
that was used for native plants beds
on the refuge.
It all started in 2000 in a vacant lot
next to a Longstreth School annex,
which Lafferty’s students turned into
a schoolyard habitat with $122 they
had collected – in pennies. In 2001, the
Children carried
soil to the raised beds
in buckets.
school received a Sea World Busch
Gardens environmental award for the
garden and that same year, Lafferty
met Jean Diehl of the Friends of Heinz
Refuge. The Friends offered to sell
organic seeds from the schoolyard
habitat and return half of the profits to
the school’s other environmental educa­tion
programs.
Humanity for Habitat
Lafferty, who joined the Friends
board, jumped at Diehl’s suggestion
that the Friends apply for a Nature of
Learning grant from the National Fish
and Wildlife Foundation so Longstreth
Elementary students could construct
a pollinator garden at John Heinz
Refuge. The grant, awarded in late
2010, provided funds to purchase more
than 2,000 native plants, nurtured in
beds at Longstreth Elementary and
transplanted to the
refuge.
Pennsylvania is
currently develop­ing
statewide
standards for
outdoor educa­tion.
Lafferty
says Longstreth
Elementary will
Weeds and old
plants went into a
compost bin which
later provided soil
to fill the raised beds
of the pollinator
garden.
be one of the few schools with its own
place to meet standards without leaving
school grounds. Native plants grown in
the Longstreth Elementary beds will
be made available to other schools in
Philadelphia.
The children came to the refuge in
February 2011 to begin working on the
project. They cleared everything out
of an original habitat garden. “We had
30 kids and eight parents, including six
dads,” remembers Lafferty.
The native plants from the habitat
garden on the refuge were taken back
to the Longstreth Elementary Native
Plant Nursery, where kindergarteners
and their sixth-grade habitat buddies
cared for them over the winter. Every­thing
else went into a compost pile. On
the second visit, raised beds were built
to hold the composted soil. Parents, volun­teers,
Friends and refuge staff provided a
three to one ratio of adults to kids. Even
kindergarteners were proudly wielding
their own shovels and rakes.
The Friends paid for bus transportation
for six field trips and project t-shirts.
Five-year-old Shanice Gonzalez drew
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Sixth-graders
produced a
brochure on the
benefits of using
native plants in
home gardening.
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Kindergarteners were accompanied on each trip to the Longstreth Elementary School teacher Chuck Lafferty gathers
refuge by a class of sixth-graders. Everyone had work to do children for an impromptu lesson on the refuge.
in the garden.
“Refuges are often isolated islands of habitat,” says gary Stolz. “By encouraging and helping create schoolyard and
backyard habitat partnerships, with pollinator gardens on refuges as models, we can help restore fragmented wildlife
corridors beyond refuge boundaries for the benefit of all Americans.”
the winning design for the bright yellow Kindergarteners were accompanied Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Lafferty
shirts adorned with the phrase, Human- on each trip to the refuge by a class of will also conduct teacher workshops
ity for Habitat. “This project brings a sixth-graders. During each three-hour at Longstreth based on Access Nature
smile to every face. It generates good field trip, children split their time and the Habitat Project Guide.
will and a spirit of togetherness,” says evenly between working in the garden
Lafferty. and taking a guided walk. Lafferty The pollinator garden is already having
uses lessons both in the classroom and an impact on the refuge and the com-
By spring, children were carrying soil on the refuge from the U.S. Fish and munity. The Pennsylvania Horticultural
to the raised beds in buckets, calling Wildlife Service Schoolyard Habitat Society honored the refuge and its pol-themselves
“ants” as they formed a Project Guide and the National Wildlife linator garden with the 2011 Community
steady line between the mound of Federation’s Access Nature program. Greening Award. Diehl, for whom the
composted soil and the planting beds. garden is the culmination of a 30-year
Every time a youngster discovered a Sixth-graders produced a brochure on dream, says “the garden has proved to
worm, snail or caterpillar, there was the benefits of using native plants in be a magnet for guided butterfly and
an excited announcement and all work home gardening. They also met a school wildflower walks during the refuge’s
stopped until a safe new home could be requirement to complete a 20-hour annual Cradle of Birding Celebration.
found. “Not one of them would squash service learning project. Kindergarten children have bonded
a bug or deliberately harm any living with their natural world – a lesson that
creature,” wrote the Friends in their On June 7, 2011, kindergarteners and will not soon be forgotten.”
project report to the National Fish and sixth-graders put finishing touches on
Wildlife Foundation. the garden as well as a small pond for “Refuges are often isolated islands of
wetland vegetation and fish. Students habitat,” says Stolz, “By encouraging
“With each visit, students became more set landscaping rocks around the perim- and helping create schoolyard and
eager to see how the garden was doing, eter before celebrating with lunch and backyard habitat partnerships, with
how their plants looked and what polli- an award ceremony. A state legislator pollinator gardens on refuges as models,
nators were visiting the garden,” noted invited to the ceremony later invited we can help restore fragmented wildlife
John Heinz Refuge ranger Mariana refuge manager Gary Stolz to talk corridors beyond refuge boundaries for
Bergerson. “There were also many about the refuge on his radio program. the benefit of all Americans.”
unplanned teaching moments such as
when the students assembled to take a What’s Next?
picture and one little girl proclaimed, ‘I Lafferty is now teaching first-grade,
just sat on a turtle!’” so about half the youngsters from his
kindergarten class will continue going
with him to the refuge. Lafferty’s
students also will be collecting informa­tion
for Project BudBurst, a citizen
science phenology project through the
SpeciAl RepoRt: BRiNgiNg eNviRoNMeNtAl edUcAtioN to diveRSe AUdieNceS 3 5
3 6
“What is given in the Right Way cannot Be Forgotten”
connecting children, Nature and culture by teaching cooperatively with Native elders
By Heather Dewar
their grandparents moved across the land with the seasons, traveling by dog
team in winter to find caribou, fishing in the Selawik River in fall, returning
from their travels to sod houses in small, scattered settlements. But now North­west
Alaska’s inupiat eskimo people live year-round in permanent houses.
Many children in the community of
Selawik, Alaska, spend months at a
time without leaving their village of 900
souls, and have few chances to learn
the skills that have been handed down
through generations. For centuries
the region’s tundra, lakes and rivers
provided fish and caribou to support
the village’s traditional subsistence
culture. The land, which became part
of the 2.5-million-acre Selawik National
Wildlife Refuge in 1980, still provides
abundant fish and game. But airplanes
and satellite dishes now link the village
to the wider world, and money is a
necessity. Jobs are few, and Selawik’s
people, 95 percent of whom are Inupiat,
struggle with poverty, alcoholism, and
the loss of young people, who leave to
find work.
The village elders wanted to keep
Inupiaq traditions alive while strength­ening
family and community bonds.
Staffers at Selawik Refuge shared that
goal, said Susan Georgette, the refuge’s
outreach specialist. The refuge, created
in 1980, encompasses 2.15 million acres
of Western Arctic wilderness where
native people have lived for more than
10,000 years. Refuge staffers realize
they are newcomers by comparison.
They see the sharing of traditional
knowledge as a powerful, appropriate
and respectful way to connect children
with nature – and also as a way of
strengthening bonds between the
refuge and the community.
Village elders teach
older children how to
set and haul nets for
whitefish.
In 2003, with the refuge’s help, the
village council and other partners
founded the Selawik Science and
Culture Camp, where elders work
with refuge employees to teach the
youngsters traditional hunting and
fishing techniques, as well as scientific
methods in wildlife biology.
Each year in mid-September when the
caribou are migrating and wild berries
are ripe, students take two days off
from classes at the village’s 240-student,
kindergarten-through-12th-grade school,
traveling by boat to a traditional fishing
site on the refuge. The camp is part
communal harvest and part outdoor
classroom, where all the lessons are
hands-on and scientific learning is woven
into traditional teachings.
learning to hold an ulu and a scalpel
Village elders teach older children how
to set and haul nets for whitefish, the
staple fish that, like salmon in other
parts of Alaska, is the essential protein
in villagers’ diet. Meanwhile refuge
staffers talk about ongoing research
into the fish’s life cycle, or explore the
waters for aquatic insects with the
younger children.
Elders and other community members
take the lead, tailoring activities to the
weather and the day’s harvest from the
land and sea. Refuge staffers consult
with the elders, offering lessons and
activities that support and supplement
traditional teachings. For example,
in a typical lesson a village woman
demonstrates the use of the ulu, the
woman’s knife, to scale and cut a fish
for drying on an open-air rack. Then a
Service staffer demonstrates how the
fish’s gills extract oxygen from water,
teaches the students how to tell its age
from its scales and
otoliths, and
dissects the fish’s
internal organs.
“They love the
heart and the eye­balls,”
Georgette
said.
Students travel by
boat to a tradition-al
fishing site on
Selawik National
Wildlife Refuge in
Alaska.
By weaving the concepts of Western
science into the framework of
traditional knowledge, refuge staffers
convey the message that these two
ways of knowing need not conflict. The
children are encouraged to feel equally
comfortable holding an ulu or a scalpel.
The village of Selawik runs the camp,
with funding and other support from
the NANA (Northwest Alaska Native
Association) Regional Corporation, the
Northwest Arctic Borough, the North­west
Arctic Borough School District
and Selawik Refuge.
Community members built an 18-by­30-
foot framed tent that is the camp’s
only indoor space. The U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service provided a $10,000
Challenge Cost Share grant to the tribal
council, which pays the salaries of a
camp manager, cooks and boat drivers,
and provides honoraria for the teaching
elders. The grant also covers the cost
of gasoline for the boats, which in 2011
cost about $8 per gallon. The school
system contributes additional labor and
materials. About half of the refuge’s
11 staffers participate in the camp’s
two-week run.
USFWS
Susan Georgette
SpeciAl RepoRt: BRiNgiNg eNviRoNMeNtAl edUcAtioN to diveRSe AUdieNceS 3 7
inspiration, interest and dash of chaos
The curriculum at the Science and
Culture Camp is informal.“It’s very
unstructured and it can seem a little
chaotic to someone from the Lower 48,”
Georgette said, “but it’s how villages
teach their youth. They believe that
kids will learn when they’re ready to
learn.”
The camp is broken into four two-day
sessions with 20 to 40 children in each
group. The youngest students attend
the first session, followed by children
in grades 4-6, junior high and finally
the high school students. The village
school has only one class for each of the
elementary grades, so the younger stu­dents
and their teachers attend camp
together. Junior high and high school
teachers are invited to come to camp
if they wish – and each year several
attend, often learning traditional skills
alongside their students.
On a typical day, the students meet
on the riverbank for a 15-minute boat
ride to the camp site. There, one group
accompanies two or three adults to
check the fishing nets. Other students
collect buckets and go berry-picking on
the tundra, learning plant identification
skills along the way. Another group
listens to an elder talk about the
link between subsistence skills and
self-respect.
The refuge team helps ensure there is
enough variety in the day’s activities
to keep the children engaged. For
example, a refuge employee may pull
out print-making materials and teach
the children how to make leaf prints.
Refuge staffers continually try new
activities. In the 2011 session, refuge
employees brought along small aquatic
nets and taught the elementary school
students how to fish for invertebrates.
Some children were fascinated and
spent hours with their nets, while
others quickly moved on to something
different.
One activity that’s always a favorite is
a photo scavenger hunt, using digital
cameras provided by the refuge. While
snapping photos of an insect, a circle-shaped
object found in nature, or a
napaaqtuq (a spruce tree), the students
are learning ecology, the Inupiaq
language and field observation.
The unstructured approach allows the
children to pursue their own interests,
Georgette said. Keeping tabs on the
campers is not a problem since plenty
of grown-ups are on scene. With elders,
teacher-observers, refuge staff, boat
drivers, and cook, about 15 adults
are usually in camp – and by custom,
village children are allowed some
freedom from constant, close adult
supervision.
Being the provider
When camp ends, community members,
teachers and students gather for a
potluck of caribou soup, baked and
dried fish and a traditional Inupiaq
dessert of whitefish eggs mixed with
wild berries. The feast gives the
children “the satisfaction of being the
provider,” Georgette said. “In northern
Alaska there’s a lot of cultural pride in
getting food from the land.”
Susan Georgette
Villagers teach
students how to scale
and cut a fish for
drying on an open-air
rack. Then a Service
staffer demonstrates
how the fish’s gills
extract oxygen from
water.
The children who attend the camp
miss two days of classroom lessons.
In a district where all the schools are
struggling to meet the tests’ minimum
academic standard, that can be a tough
sell. Yet most local educators strongly
support the camp, recognizing the
importance of connecting students with
their cultural heritage and the land.
Many of the teachers come from
outside Alaska, and because of the
remote setting, turnover is high. The
teachers who spend time observing
students and elders in the camp gain
an understanding of village culture and
a new insight into students’ skills and
learning styles, said Brittany Sweeney,
Selawik Refuge’s environmental educa­tion
specialist. “Teachers get a chance
to plug in to the outdoor classroom that
is all around them, and to see how they
can more effectively reach students
who function better in this type of
hands-on learning environment than in
a classroom setting,” Sweeney said.
The camp also builds understanding and
respect between Selawik elders and
refuge staffers as they learn from one
another. “The refuge is the traditional
homeland of Selawik people,” Georgette
said, “so in order for us to be able
to do any kind of research, you have
to have a good relationship with the
community.”
Selawik Refuge is working in other
ways to support the village’s effort to
conserve Inupiaq culture. Georgette is
compiling a list of the Inupiaq, English
and scientific names for refuge song­birds.
And the refuge has published
two booklets researched and written by
local residents. One booklet documents
the historic range of the area’s caribou;
the other documents and explains
traditional fishing methods.
As he described caribou hunting,
Selawik elder David Nasragniq Greist
spoke words that would make an
ideal motto for Selawik’s Science and
Culture Camp: “What is given in the
right way cannot be forgotten.”
3 8
Speci A l Repo R t: B R i N g i N g eN v i R o NM e N tA l e d U c At i o N to d i v e RS e A U d i e N ce S 3 9
the circle of life
Several other Alaska refuges host or
support camps that meld traditional
knowledge and modern science. Since
1993, Alaska Peninsula Refuge on the
state’s southwestern tip has sponsored
Spirit Science Camp for high school
juniors and seniors from native Alutiiq
villages. Using a former Bible camp
as their base, as many as 10 students
and five elders spend four days in
September studying the mammals,
birds, plants, aquatic life and geologic
features of the wilderness surrounding
remote Becharof Lake.
Spirit Science students learn to identify
plants using the same dichotomous
keys used in botany classrooms – and
also learn the plant names in Alutiiq,
the language of the Peninsula’s native
people, and their value as food and
medicine. Students learn basic outdoor
skills such as orienteering, the use of
GPS and bear safety. “And they learn
how their homeland connects to the
“When we grew up our father and uncles taught us how to protect the land
and the animals, so those spirits would in turn provide food and lands for us.
this is the circle of life,” orville lind said. “that is being lost...We want to
resurrect that spirit, that stewardship so we can have these resources for
future conservationists years from now.”
rest of the world,” said camp co-founder
Orville Lind. In a region that is one of
the world’s richest breeding ground for
migratory seabirds, “we tell them that
we have shearwaters that come here
from Australia, and their jaws drop.”
Lind, a refuge ranger at Alaska Penin­sula
Refuge and the son of an Alutiiq
chief, said the camp has four goals:
to integrate traditional and Western
teachings; to increase students’ eco­logical
knowledge; to give the students
outdoor experiences that build skills
and confidence; and to foster a sense
of stewardship for the land and the
wildlife it supports.
By weaving the concepts of Western
science into the framework of traditional
knowledge, staffers at Selawik Refuge
convey the message that these two ways of
knowing need not conflict. Susan Georgette
USFWS
Each year in mid-September when the caribou are migrating and wild berries are ripe,
it’s time for the Selawik Science and Culture Camp.
4 0
A Message from the chief
National Wildlife Refuge System
Our Conserving the Future vision, which will guide national wildlife refuges for the next decade,
recommends improving and expanding environmental education. And for good reason. Environmental
education is a tool to give people a deeper understanding of their ecological place in the natural world
and an avenue to promote an ecological conscience in future conservationists.
Our education programs enable us to articulate nature’s benefits and demonstrate tangible contributions
to community schools. In these pages, you learned about school-refuge partnerships that have already
succeeded in reaching children who don’t usually connect with the outdoors. Often the collaboration initiated by one
committed refuge employee or a single dedicated teacher can influence hundreds of children, year after year.
Today’s conservation challenges are too big for any one agency or organization to surmount. As leaders, partners and role
models in conservation efforts, we can inspire children, teachers, schools and school districts, so together we can leave a
legacy of abundant and healthy wildlife and wild lands for future generations of Americans.
Jim Kurth
USFWS
U.S. department of the interior
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
www.fws.gov
Federal Relay
1 800 877 8339 voice and ttY
January 2013

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1
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
Special Report
Bringing Environmental Education
to Diverse Audiences
Mission of the National Wildlife Refuge System
The mission of the System is to administer a national network of lands and waters
for the conservation, management, and where appropriate, restoration of the fish,
wildlife, and plant resources and their habitats within the United States for the benefit
of present and future generations of Americans.
Authors
Karen Leggett and Heather Dewar are writers/editors in the National Wildlife Refuge System Branch of Communications.
Kendall Slee is a freelance writer in Colorado who frequently contributes to National Wildlife Refuge System publications.
Suzanne Trapp is Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge partner school coordinator.
Barrett Elementary School
Fourth-graders went on a digital
scavenger hunt at Elizabeth Hartwell
Mason Neck National Wildlife Refuge,
not far from their school in Virginia.
(See Infused with Wildlife, page 21) table of contents
Letter from the Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
�
Lessons from the Albatross. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
�
Teaching Second-Graders about Life Cycles and Stewardship
Minnesota Refuge Partner School Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Making School Visits More than “One-Hit No-Wonder”
The Smell of Marsh Mud: Matagorda Island National Wildlife Refuge. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13
�
Offering Multiple Options for Hands-on Study of an Ecosystem
Journals and JPGs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17
�
Introducing Youth to Wildlife in Colorado and Wyoming
Infused with Wildlife . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21
�
Teaching Refuges to All Students
Building Environmental Literacy One Class at a Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
From 26 Students to 320 in Three Years
Environmental Learning = 1 Trail + Many Partners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Hands-on Lessons in Scientific Fieldwork
Nature in the City . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
The Garden that an EE Partnership Built
“What Is Given in the Right Way Cannot Be Forgotten” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37
�
Connecting Children, Nature and Culture by Teaching Cooperatively with Native Elders
Letter from the Chief of the National Wildlife Refuge System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Inside Back Cover
�
SpeciAl RepoRt: BRiNgiNg eNviRoNMeNtAl edUcAtioN to diveRSe AUdieNceS 1
2
Joe Lu
A student photo displayed at the
Colorado State Capitol was auctioned
by the Friends. (See Journals and
JPGs, page 17)
A Message from the director
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
National wildlife refuges are some of the most special places in the world for wildlife. That’s why we
must introduce children to these special places early and often. The great biologist E.O. Wilson noted
that, “Most children have a bug period, and I never outgrew mine. Hands-on experience at the critical
time, not systematic knowledge, is what counts in the making of a naturalist.”
Although many children do have extraordinary experiences in the outdoors, studies show that young
people today are spending only half as much time outside as their parents did. The environmental
education programs of national wildlife refuges are the best way we can reverse those trends and connect with diverse
student populations in both urban and rural areas.
In this Special Report, you will read about children who are acting out the life cycle of a Laysan albatross, gaining traditional
and scientific knowledge about fish in Alaska, finding ghost crabs on Texas Gulf Coast beaches, and measuring water quality
in Florida. Such experiences will stay with children all their lives. Research tells us that such “wild nature” adventures during
childhood are associated with environmentally-friendly behaviors in adulthood. I hope you’ll gain new insight and ideas from
these examples and that you will share your own successes with your colleagues.
Environmental education is fundamental to nurturing a strong land ethic. I strongly encourage you to find ways to replicate
or adapt some of these programs on your refuge and in your work to connect children to America’s great outdoors. A new
generation of conservationists will thank you.
Dan Ashe
SpeciAl RepoRt: BRiNgiNg eNviRoNMeNtAl edUcAtioN to diveRSe AUdieNceS 3
4
lessons from the Albatross
teaching Second-graders about life cycles and Stewardship
By Kendall Slee
the laysan albatross that spend part of their lives on Hawai’i’s Kaua’i island
are fascinating. that’s why the staff of Kîlauea point National Wildlife Refuge
decided to focus on the seabirds for an elementary-level education program in
the 2010-2011 school year.
A seabird found only along the coast
where colonies exist, the albatross are
easy to identify. Standing 32 inches
tall, with a wingspan of more than
six feet, albatross – called Mol­in
the
native language – can steal a show
with their mating dance of sky calling,
bill clapping, head tucks and bobbing,
deep bows, and outstretched necks and
wings. Most of their life milestones can
be observed November to June – perfect
for the school year – and albatross are
usually flying and nesting near their
colony on Kîlauea Point.
So Shayna Carney, the refuge’s former
supervisory park ranger, envisioned a
program designed around life cycles, a
state curriculum standard for second
graders.
Carney wrote the first lesson about sea­bird
adaptations and Caroline Tucker
was hired as a part-time environmental
educator to write the rest of the
curriculum, focusing on life stages of
the albatross from egg to adult. (See
sidebar on “The Life Stages of a Laysan
Albatross.”) Refuge staff taught five
45-minute lessons in the classroom (see
“Laysan Albatross Lesson Outline”)
and provided 12 additional lessons per
month for five months. The program
Laysan albatross
spend months
foraging on the open
ocean, then return
to their colonies on
land for breeding
season—November
through July.
culminated in a two-hour field trip to
the refuge in April and May.
The program was taught to 12 second-grade
classes – 245 students – from
six public, private and charter schools
on the northern and eastern side of
the island. All are no more than a
45-minute drive from the refuge. The
Hawai`i Youth Conservation Corps,
the state branch of Americorps, hired
volunteer Scott Clapsaddle to help
Tucker teach the lessons; the refuge’s
interpretive rangers filled out the
teaching ranks. The refuge Friends
group, Kîlauea Point Natural History
Association, funded bus transportation
for the field trip as well as supplies and
educational materials.
dancing like an Albatross
The program emphasized participatory
learning, whether students danced like
an albatross or tested the strength of
an egg. “I think when you are doing
hands-on experiential learning, it sticks
in your mind better than if you’re just
hearing it and seeing it,” Tucker says.
Nanea Sproat-Armitage, a teacher at
Kîlauea School, says she was impressed
by how much information her students
retained month to month from the
lessons. The program helped students
gain a deeper understanding of a bird
they might recognize but know little
about, she says.
Diane McDonald, a teacher at Hanalei
School, agrees. “A couple of the main
points of the program that really stuck
with my students were the distances
these birds fly and how long the birds
stay at sea, how strong an egg shell is
and how the mother and father both
take care of the chick,” she says. “The
students also had a great time learning
the life Stages of a laysan Albatross
Laysan Albatross can be spotted on Kaua’i and other islands of the
Hawai’ian archipelago November through July, when they alight on land to
mate and breed after months of foraging on the open ocean.
In November, the albatross return to their breeding grounds – usually the
same place where they hatched. They begin nesting with their mates. The
birds are monogamous. Parents take turns incubating their single egg until
it hatches in January or February.
Once the chick hatches, parents will leave the nest in search of food, and
return to feed their chick regurgitated squid oil and flying fish eggs.
The albatross begin seeking mates when they are three to five years old.
Single albatross can be seen performing elaborate mating dances from
November through June as they search for and bond with a mate. The
courting process is extensive. Bonded pairs eventually breed when they
are between six and eight years old.
Chicks fledge in June and July, and will spend the next several years
feeding in the open ocean. After they begin breeding, they spend their
non-breeding months at sea. The Laysan albatross live 40 to 60 years.
USFWS
SpeciAl RepoRt: BRiNgiNg eNviRoNMeNtAl edUcAtioN to diveRSe AUdieNceS 5
Kîlauea Point
National Wildlife
Refuge’s albatross
education pro-gram
covered the
life stages of an
albatross from egg
to fluffy chick to
breeding adult.
Chris Swenson
Students learned how marine debris can be deadly to albatross and they brainstormed ways to help: recycling,
using re-usable lunch containers, cleaning up beaches and spreading the word about how litter hurts the birds.
the different mating dances and then
recognized the dances during our visit.”
While refuge staff visited the schools
about once a month, teachers extended
the lessons with displays and discus­sions,
typically posting pictures of the
albatross at their life stage throughout
the year. Most had a little stuffed
albatross displayed in front of the room.
Each class also received a small book
about albatross written by a refuge
volunteer.
Responding to teacher Feedback
Refuge staff encouraged teachers’
feedback and adjusted lessons accord­ingly.
Informal feedback from teachers
guided Tucker on small revisions – such
as what activities the students enjoyed
most or whether they were grasping
key concepts. “If an activity was too
confusing, with the teacher’s help—and
usually on the spot—I could change
the instructions to meet the needs of
individual students and the class as a
whole,” Tucker says.
Flexibility proved key. The field trip to
the refuge turned up a few challenges
when many classes lacked enough
parent volunteers to lead small groups
through a scavenger hunt at a series of
learning stations.
“We found that some of our scavenger
hunt clues were too complicated for
second-graders, and we needed to
let go of some of the details,” Tucker
says. “In the end the most important
thing was making sure they had a good
experience in the outdoors and could
feel good about what they knew about
the albatross and stewardship.”
Active Stewardship
Students learned how marine debris
can be deadly to albatross and they
brainstormed ways to help: recycling,
using re-usable lunch containers, clean­ing
up beaches and spreading the word
about how litter hurts the birds.
A program highlight for Kîlauea Point
supervisory park ranger Jennifer
Waipa was seeing children exhibit their
knowledge during the field trip. “The
kids really grabbed on to certain things
they’d learned through the lessons –
like the word ‘chalaza.’” To introduce
and reinforce the word for the tissue
that attaches the yolk within the egg,
lesson instructors asked the students
to repeat the rhyme, “The chalaza holds
the yolk in place-uh.”
“Weeks or months later, you could see
how the lessons were created in a way
that helped them retain that informa­tion,”
Waipa says.
6
laysan Albatross
lesson outline
lesson 1: Build a Bird
Concepts: Basic information about
national wildlife refuges, Kî­lauea
Point
and seabird adaptations.
Active component: A student is
transformed into a bird with the help
of classmates who provide suggestions
for elements to add – feathers, webbed
feet, sharp hooked beak, long wings.
lesson 2: So You think You can
dance… like an Albatross?
Concepts: Courtship.
Active component: Students create an
albatross mask prior to lesson. During
the classroom visit, students learn
about courtship rituals, including a few
of the 25 dance moves albatross use
to find and impress a potential mate.
Students wear “gooney bird” masks and
try some of the dances in small groups.
lesson 3: An egg-stravaganza!
Concepts: An egg is a habitat for a
growing baby bird.
Active component: Students participate
in an “egg-speriment” to test the
strength of an egg. Two students
stand in front of the class and squeeze
eggs – one from the sides, one from top
to bottom. “Usually if an egg breaks,
it would be the one squeezed from the
sides,” Tucker says. “This is a visual
way to show that the strength of an egg
is due to its shape. It is the strongest
shape in nature.”
Another experiment: Place books on
an upright egg to see how much weight
it can bear. Many classes reached 10 to
12 textbooks before the egg broke. Stu­dents
also learned names and functions
for each part of an egg by acting out
parts and repeating catchy phrases.
lesson 4: Food for the Brood
Concepts: Both parents care for the
newly hatched chick; one parent forages
at sea and brings back fish and squid,
while the other broods over the chick
to keep it warm and protect it from
predators.
Active component: Students learn
firsthand the challenges of being a
parent albatross by playing a relay-race
game. Split into groups, students are
given a “nest” with a “chick” inside
(using a bowl with a photo of a chick in
a nest). Each group has a “feeding area”
in the classroom that holds “food items”
such as squid, flying fish eggs and flying
fish (all simulated by fishing lures or
poker chips.) The first person must run
to the feeding area to collect food, using
an origami “beak,” and bring it back to
“feed” the chick (deposit it in the bowl)
while the remaining “parent” protects
the nest from “predators” (facilitators
or teachers wearing cat masks).
“This is a physical way to demonstrate
how difficult it can be to be a parent alba­tross
and have such important duties,”
Tucker explains. “Students were chal­lenged
to run, use hand-eye coordination
to collect the food, stay near the nest
and guard the chick, as well as show
aggression (albatross-style, of course!)
to predators to protect their young.”
lesson 5: Ready for take-off
Concepts: Albatross chicks must go
through several changes before they leave
the colony and begin their adult lives.
Active component: Students measure
their own wingspan prior to the classroom
visit. During the lesson, each student
makes a personalized “bird band.” The
bands are then mixed up and the teacher
tries to match each student with the
correct band, using only the information
on the band (wingspan, hair color, etc.)
lesson 6: Field trip: Kîlauea point
Scavenger Hunt
Concepts: Review of the life cycle
stages and recollection of information
shared throughout the program.
Active component: Students work in
small groups to solve clues, find secret
locations, and complete challenges all
around Kîlauea Point.
Kîlauea Point National Wildlife Refuge environmental educator Caroline Tucker
(far left) and Americorps volunteer Scott Clapsaddle (far right) put on their best
albatross faces with a class of second-graders.
Diane McDonald
SpeciAl RepoRt: BRiNgiNg eNviRoNMeNtAl edUcAtioN to diveRSe AUdieNceS 7
8
Minnesota Refuge partner School program
Making School visits More than “one-Hit No-Wonder”
By Suzanne Trapp
“What are we really accomplishing running 20,000 students
through the refuge each year?”
Beth Ullenberg, supervisory visitor
services manager at one of the largest
urban refuges in the National Wildlife
Refuge System, summarized staff senti­ment
when she arrived at Minnesota
Valley National Wildlife Refuge in 2006.
“We’d have two hours to teach anywhere
from 60 to 120 students about nature.
Teachers and students were not always
engaged, and the majority of staff
time was spent trying to control the
group.” The result was what Ullenberg
described as a “one-hit no-wonder”
experience.
Staff agreed. They had little confidence
that students understood the value of
the National Wildlife Refuge System,
let alone the refuge treasure in their
own urban backyard. What emerged in
2006 was the Refuge Partner Schools
Program, which places the quality of
student and teacher experiences at the
forefront of the environmental educa­tion
program.
The program has enrolled three schools:
East Union Elementary in Carver,
Minnesota, the American Indian School
in St. Paul and Jackson Elementary in
Shakopee. Staff, interns, volunteers,
Right: Catching
wildlife in the
Prairie Insect
Survey is a favorite
fall field trip.
Left: Elementary
students created
a colorful, inter-active
magnetic
mural that shows
the variety of
teachers and parent chaperones all
contribute their time to the program.
The 2011-12 school year marks the fifth
season of the Refuge Partner School
Program. During this time, principal
retention and support have proved
critical to the program’s success.
Indeed, the best Partner Schools have a
principal who strongly supports outdoor
learning, wants to see teachers use the
refuge as an outdoor classroom and
supports associated teacher training.
To provide outdoor experiences and
environmental learning to students
least likely to visit a wildlife refuge on
their own, Minnesota Valley Refuge
considered the percentage of ethnically
diverse and low-income students when
it selected Refuge Partner Schools.
Such demographic information is
available from the state’s Department
of Education website. Additionally, the
refuge sought partner schools that
lacked environmental educators or
naturalist staff and a nature area within
walking distance.
At first, several Twin Cities envi­ronmental
magnet schools seemed
the logical choice for participation.
They were eager to join and clearly
met the criteria of strong principle
support. However, with nature areas
just outside their back doors and
environmental education specialists or
naturalists on staff, these schools did
not need mentoring.
the program structure
Each school initially signs a three-year
cooperative agreement. The principal
commits to sending each class (K-5)
to the refuge at least three times
a year. “This is the hands-on piece
that I wanted,” says Jenny Killian, a
second- and third-grade teacher at
East Union Elementary School, which
has participated in the program for its
entire five years. By getting the kids
out in nature, the instruction “becomes
more meaningful,” she says. “It sticks
in those little brains more than it would
if we just read about it in books.”
In addition, teachers set aside one hour
in the classroom to allow refuge staff
to introduce an activity before each
two-hour field trip. Teachers are invited
to attend workshops in natural history,
outdoor teaching techniques, and other
national environmental education cur­ricula
led by refuge staff and partners,
all free of charge.
At the end of the third year, teachers
and refuge staff assess the partnership.
If it continues, a two- or three-year
extension is granted. Students continue
to visit the refuge on the same schedule
but teachers present the field trip
pre-activity. Teachers are asked to
brainstorm with students about Service
Learning projects that help both the
refuge and the learning experience.
East Union Elementary students, for
example, created a colorful, interactive
magnetic mural that shows the variety
of plants and wildlife on the refuge. The
mural hangs in the Rapids Lake Educa­tion
and Visitor Center.
USFWS
plants and wild-life
on Minnesota
Valley Refuge.
USFWS
SpeciAl RepoRt: BRiNgiNg eNviRoNMeNtAl edUcAtioN to diveRSe AUdieNceS 9
Who goes there? Three
Refuge Partner Schools
send students to Minnesota
Valley National Wildlife
Refuge for spring, fall and
winter field trips.
Survey, targeted toward second- and
third-graders, although this may be
altered to suit first-graders since the
state guidelines are changing. Students
collect a half-dozen or so butterflies,
grasshoppers and other insects and use
a chart to record how they are similar
and different. They create graphs, tally
numbers, write or draw about their
observations and build their math and
critical observation skills – all in one
exercise.
In Habitat – Who Needs It? kindergar­teners
learn the four major components
of habitat – food, water, shelter and
space – and the difference between
wild and domestic animals. As they visit
different habitats on the refuge, they
think about the food and water sources
USFWS
After three years and two revisions, the teaching matrix outlines not only
ensure three years of visits to the refuge, but they also provide increasingly
challenging lessons that meet state educational standards in math, english,
physical education, social studies as well as science.
Each year, fifth-graders graduating
from the program spend a Friday in
spring learning how to fish on the
refuge. Thanks to Youth Fishing Day
sponsors such as the Red Lake Nation,
the Minnesota Department of Natural
Resources, General Mills and Gander
Mountain, students learn to cast, tie
a knot, identify common Minnesota
fish species and create fish art before
going home with their own rod, reel and
tackle set.
the curriculum
For teachers to embrace the refuge as
an extension of their classrooms, the
Refuge Partner School curriculum
had to meet state education standards.
According to Killian, no valuable class
time is lost because the material
covered at the refuge correlates with
required instruction. For refuge
staff and management to support the
program, it had to increase student
environmental awareness and foster
a stewardship ethic. For the program
to compete with offerings at nearby,
Partner School Coordinator nature
and environmental centers, it had to
provide a unique experience to teachers
and students.
After three years and two revisions, the
teaching matrix outlines not only ensure
three years visits to the refuge, but
they also provide increasingly challeng­ing
lessons that meet
state educational stan­in
each.
In Seeds on the Go, second- and
third-graders collect different seeds in
various habitats, consider how plants
disperse seeds and think about how the
seeds might move in the habitat.
They also learn about refuge manage­ment
– such as controlling the dispersal
of nonnative reed canary grass seeds.
dards in math, English,
physical education, social
studies as well as science.
It builds on student knowl­edge
and experience
gained each year.
Students learn hands-on,
real-life research and data
collection techniques
related to management on
wildlife refuges. They also
have a chance to snowshoe
hike, fish and observe wild­life.
Teachers regularly
suggest additions and revi­sions
to the curriculum.
Some popular courses
include Prairie Insect
Students from East Union
Elementary School use nets
and buckets for Pond Insect
Investigation.
USFWS
1 0
the cost
The program hosted 3,039 student visits
during the 2010-11 school year. Busing
costs totaled roughly $13,600. Yearly busing
costs average about $350 per classroom.
In the first two years, nine refuge staff
hours are devoted to each partner
classroom. The time commitment drops
to six hours per class in the next three
partnership years as teachers become
prepared to lead their own classroom
pre-field trip activity. Additional admin­istrative
time is needed to purchase
materials and schedule field trips.
While one refuge staffer usually
presents the bulk of the field trip lesson,
refuge volunteers assist with small
group activities during each field trip.
Parent chaperones act as additional
small group leaders.
If you are interested in starting a
Refuge Partner School program, you can
download curriculum and other helpful
materials from http://www.fws.gov/
midwest/MinnesotaValley/refugeteach-ers/.
For more information, contact
Suzanne Trapp at 952-361-4502 or by
email, Suzanne_Trapp@fws.gov.
Minnesota valley National Wildlife Refuge partner School curriculum Matrix
Years 2-5 Fall Winter Spring
Kindergarten Habitat – Who Needs It? Who Goes There? Forests Are More than Trees
Grade 1 Tracking Nature through the Seasons Survivor: Minnesota Winter A Peek at Plants
Grade 2 Prairie Insects or Meet the Mammals WSI: Wildlife Scene Investigators Pond Investigation
Grade 3 Seeds on the Go! Tree Math or Bird’s Beaks & Adaptations How Animals Communicate or Wetland Safari
Grade 4 Migration Matters Winter Under a Microscope Water Canaries
Grade 5 Minnesota Biomes or Tracking Wildlife or Compass Crusade Landforms or Birding Basics
White-tailed Deer: How Many?
the Blue goose Bus Fund
School budgets have left many schools – especially those in low-income areas – unable to absorb busing costs. Indeed,
teachers have identified transportation costs as the number one barrier to the Refuge Partners Program. In response,
the non-profit Refuge Friends, Inc., which works with Minnesota Valley Refuge, established the Blue Goose Bus Fund.
Schools that join the program can apply for partial or total busing scholarship.
There are alternatives to funding by
a Refuge Friends organizations. In
response to dwindling school district
budgets, many foundations have
offered grants to support school
field trips. Even a 50:50 cost share
will entice schools to participate.
Fund your refuge’s share with grant
dollars and let the schools raise the
remaining funds.
Many parents have formed school
support organizations that assist
with raising funds for special proj­ects.
Businesses are often looking
for meaningful ways to contribute
to their community. Consider
working with local Audubon, Ducks
Unlimited, Optimists or Lions
Clubs chapters, among other non­profit
organizations.
Watching wetland birds at Bass
Ponds is a popular spring field
trip activity.
USFWS
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1 2
the Smell of Marsh Mud:
Matagorda island National Wildlife Refuge
offering Multiple options for Hands-on Study of an ecosystem
by Karen Leggett
A barrier island along the coastal bend of texas that has no causeway,
highway or ferry for access, Matagorda island provides an unparalleled
opportunity both to protect natural resources and offer the hands-on environ­mental
educational experience that such an isolated ecosystem can offer.
Hundreds are taking advantage each
year as Aransas National Wildlife
Refuge Complex uses the island as a
key component of its environmental
education program.
Many of the schools served by the
refuge’s education program are primar­ily
Hispanic, and the students’ first
experience with the bay and the Gulf of
Mexico often occurs during a field trip.
“It is important that our future leaders
understand the interdependence of
the estuarine system and the need to
protect it. It is through field trips and
interaction that a true appreciation
and understanding can develop,” says
Aransas Refuge environmental educa­tion
specialist Tonya Nix.
The Science and Spanish Club Network
– a group of middle school clubs con­nected
to school districts and youth
organizations – brings teens to Aransas
Refuge, as does the Port Lavaca Water
Watchers Club, which reaches primarily
underserved urban Hispanic students.
estuary education
Aransas Refuge has the largest wetland
habitat in the northern part of the
Mission-Aransas National Estuarine
Research Reserve, a nationally desig­nated
complex of wetland, terrestrial
and marine environments. One purpose
of these reserves is to promote environ­mental
education about estuaries.
A young crane catches
a blue crab at Aransas
National Wildlife Refuge
in Texas. Students learn
the connections among
water quality, blue crabs
and cranes.
While educational field trips have gone
to Matagorda Island for decades, in
2008 Nix began meeting with other
environmental education professionals,
teachers and scientists from the Univer­sity
of Texas and Padre Island National
Seashore to outline shared educational
goals, including improved understand­ing
of Texas coastal ecosystems and
stewardship of coastal resources.
The goals are based on national science
standards and aligned with Texas
Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS)
objectives. The group identified objec­tives
and activities for each natural
area that did not overlap. “We want
visitors to have a unique experience at
Matagorda Island, not something they
can experience at Port Aransas or on
boats that go into the bay,” says Nix.
Matagorda Island provides an opportu­nity
to teach about the ecosystem of a
barrier island.
getting to the island and Staying there
When school, Scout or other groups
come to Matagorda Island, they spend
one or two nights in a rustic bunkhouse
originally used by cowboys when the
south end of the island was an active
cattle ranch. There is no charge for
the bunkhouse as long as it is being
used for environmental education.
Groups must bring their own bedding,
toiletries, drinking water and food; the
bunkhouse has a full kitchen, complete
with cooking supplies. Energy comes
from gas and solar panels.
Groups must also arrange their own
transportation to the island on private
charter boats. Nix says the students
with the Port Lavaca Water Watchers
Club save all year to pay for boats to
bring them to the island. She says the
refuge is considering seeking grants or
encouraging the Friends organization to
hold fundraisers to defray some of the
field trip expenses
The island has a small lab with locally
gathered specimens, a few microscopes,
plankton nets and viewers, and dis­secting
kits. Audio-visual equipment is
available in a small classroom.
Melinda Nielsen, who brings fifth- and
sixth-graders students from Bay Area
Montessori School in Houston, says,
“The venue is authentic and away from
home, enabling students to investigate
bay, marsh, coastal grassland, fresh­water
ponds, estuary and beach shore
areas all at once to see how they are
dependent on each other.”
From goals on paper to
Hands-on learning
When groups make plans for a Mata­gorda
Island field trip, they choose from
seven lesson plans, including a beach
habitat mini-course and a beginning
birding nature trek. Some plans existed
prior to the Mission-Aransas Reserve
collaboration. Others were adapted
from The Nature Conservancy, which
conducted programs on the island
before it became part of the refuge.
Nix teaches whichever lesson plan the
group chooses.
The Matagorda Island experience
is intended to teach students about
the value of the estuary as a nursery
for developing organisms and the
importance of the island as a feeding
source for migratory birds. Species are
observed and studied in their natural
habitats, allowing students to connect
with nature while learning the impor­tance
of working together to insure the
animals/habitats we have today are
here for future generations.
Each lesson plan includes a goal, objec­tive,
recommended age group, time and
season, as well as a very specific list of
the TEKS objectives met by that plan.
An eighth-grade TEKS requirement
Lance and Erin Willet
SpeciAl RepoRt: BRiNgiNg eNviRoNMeNtAl edUcAtioN to diveRSe AUdieNceS 1 3
Richard Gonzalez
www.shutterstock.com
Cleaning up beach debris requires hard work and
team work for students on Matagorda Island.
Beach Habitat Mini-course
The objectives of this course are to give participants an understanding of
the Gulf beach as an appealing but deceptively harsh habitat for resident
biota. Other objectives include:
• Learn to perceive the ecological zones on the beach.
• Find and identify some characteristic animals that live in each zone.
• Observe and discuss the adaptations that permit survival on the beach and
the food web that supports these resident creatures.
• Learn some ways that humans can disrupt the natural cycles on a beach.
Site: Gulf beach at Wynne Road
Recommended length: 2+ hrs
�
Recommended age: Grades 8-12 and adults
�
Recommended season/time: spring, summer, fall
�
Materials provided by refuge (except for personal clothing items)
• Outside clothes with sleeves and
long trousers to get wet to the
knees; wet shoes; hat; sun block.
• four slurpers
• four plastic jars
• four plastic cubes
• two hand nets
• two hand magnifiers
Sample activities and questions
• two 20-30 foot seines for the group
• two five-gallon buckets for the group
• thermometer
• refractometer
• megaphone
• group water jug
• First-aid kit with meat tenderizer
• 2-way radio
There are activities and questions related to several key wildlife species on
the beach – tiger beetle, beach hopper, sand digger, palp worm, mole grabs
and ghost crabs.
• Catch a tiger beetle in a plastic cube for observation. How does it tolerate
sun and heat? How about swimmers and fishermen?
• Find coquinas, the small clams living in the swash zone. Note the sturdy,
wedge-shaped shell adapted to the battering surf and shifting sand.
Children learn to identify ghost
crab tracks and burrows.
that could be met on Matagorda Island,
for example, is for students to conduct
field and laboratory investigations using
safe, environmentally appropriate and
ethical practices.
Another eighth-grade TEKS require­ment
is for students to learn about the
interdependence among living systems.
Aransas Refuge provides critical
habitat for the endangered whooping
crane, which depends on blue crabs as
a food source. So students learn about
the relationship between water quality
and blue crabs. “If the water is too
salty, blue crabs will not reproduce,”
explains Nix. “Blue crabs, and therefore
whooping cranes, are dependent on
water quality”
inquiry education
Nix guides students through each
lesson with a process called inquiry edu­cation.
When students are on the beach
but before they have started digging for
ghost crabs, they are asked to consider:
• What signs do you observe that tell us
that a critter lives in the sand?
• What critters do you think may live on
this beach? Why?
• How would living in a burrow be
beneficial to survival on the beach?
Ghost crabs dig down to the water
table. Students are asked to figure out
1 4
Students with the Science and
Spanish Club Network created their
own “flash mob dance,” which they
perform when Aransas Refuge has
an exhibit at local wildlife festivals.
the best place to dig to find ghost crabs.
Ultimately, they begin digging close
to the water. They are instructed to
handle their ghost crabs with care when
placing them into a jar and resuming
the conversation.
• How does the crab survive on
the beach?
• What special adaptations does the crab
have to survive in this environment?
• Does the crab have natural
camouflage?
• What would be the benefit of being
nocturnal?
• How might continual automobile traffic
affect ghost crabs populations?
Students observe a ghost crab with sci­entific
precision – the hard exoskeleton,
jointed legs, agile movements, special
hairs to absorb water from burrow
walls, gills that do not need constant
immersion in water, pop-up eyes with
near 360-degree visual field.
Ghost crabs feed mostly at night on
coquinas and smaller crabs. They are
preyed upon by birds, coyotes, badgers
and feral hogs. After measuring the
temperature of the surface and interior
of a burrow, students talk about the
advantage of being inside or outside the
burrow on a hot day.
You’re invited to a Flash Flock party
Aransas Refuge frequently hosts
teens in the Science and Spanish Club
Network (SSCN), a multicultural envi­ronmental
education project created by
the Gulf of Mexico Foundation.
SSCN clubs first came to the mainland
units of the refuge. Encouraged by
Nix, they now come to Matagorda
Island as well. Although Nix does use
a beach ecology curriculum with these
youngsters, they are more likely to
learn about the estuarine ecosystem
by working in it, doing service projects
like beach cleanup. SSCN teens have
Richard Gonzalez
“You see the light go off in kids’ eyes when they get it. they are not out there
trying to be cool. Marsh mud smells and they are getting wet and dirty while
learning. By the time they leave, they still have a little Matagorda island smell.”
tonya Nix
rebuilt a trail beaten down by alligators,
observed whooping crane habitat,
and – in six visits between 2009 and
2011 – picked up more than 30 tons of
trash from the Gulf coast shoreline.
In 2010, SSCN organized a Whooping
Crane Flash Flock Party to celebrate
both the refuge birthday and Tom
Stehn, the refuge’s recently retired
whooping crane biologist. Half the cel­ebrants
wore red, white and black while
Stehn showed up in the whooping crane
costume he used to work undercover
with the cranes. SSCN teens created
their own “flash mob dance,” which they
now perform when Aransas Refuge has
an exhibit at local wildlife festivals.
SSCN mentor and grant writer Richard
Gonzalez planned a Whoop Dance
Competition at the Aransas Pass
Shrimporee in June 2012, when Aransas
Refuge celebrated its 75th anniversary.
He has also sent Flash Flock Party Kits
to other national wildlife refuges with
whooping cranes (Quivira in Kansas,
Necedah in Wisconsin, Chassahowitza
and St. Marks in Florida) as well as
Wood Buffalo National Park in Canada,
where the Aransas flock spends the
summer. Both Quivira and St. Marks
Refuges are making plans to have kids
do The Whoop when the first cranes
arrive at their refuges.
The Flash Flock Party Kit includes
life-size wood cuts of cranes, smaller-than-
life size blue crabs and ideas for
creating an event that raises awareness
about the endangered status of North
America’s tallest bird, such as celebrat­ing
the day the cranes begin arriving
or leaving, building on-site science
displays, putting cranes on a parade
float or establishing a wildlife biologist
day. Gonzalez also believes The Whoop
should be just the first of many endan­gered
species theme songs and dances
developed by students – he says he’s
looking forward to the Kemp’s Ridley
Sea Turtle Mambo, the Ocelot Trot or
the Bison Bounce.
For information on Whooping Crane
Flash Flock Party Kits – or ideas on
adapting the party to other species –
contact Richard Gonzalez at Richard@
gulfmex.org.
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1 6
Journals and Jpgs
introducing Youth to Wildlife in colorado and Wyoming
By Karen Leggett
National elk Refuge is in its fifth year of partnering with multiple organizations to provide a structured program for
second-graders in two local elementary schools with large Hispanic populations. one is a nonprofit organization called
pARtners, which helps educators use art to enhance learning and invited the refuge to organize some field trips.
Lori Iverson, supervisory recreation
planner at National Elk Refuge,
thought it was a perfect chance for
“kids to learn a sense of place and use
journaling to watch a place change
throughout the seasons.” Iverson
participates in planning meetings
with several organizations, including
pARTners, all committed to creating
an interdisciplinary environmental
education program centered on visits
to or near the refuge. “It’s one large
program,” says Iverson, “with many
elements.”
During the first program in 2006,
professional artists and photographers
provided basic drawing and photog­raphy
lessons in the classroom to 150
children, who also learned how art can
be applied to science. Children brought
journals and cameras provided by the
Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival
on each trip to the refuge. They filled
their journals with stories and observa­tions
and created keepsake covers to
preserve their work. After each visit,
Film Festival staff gave students a 4x6
copy of one of their photos to put in the
journal. Each class also received digital
copies of all the student photos.
Seasonal visits to the Refuge
Before the first trip to the refuge in
October, a local geologist met students
in the classroom to introduce the
concept of how geology influences the
flora and fauna of a region. A geologist
also accompanied the students on their
The Jackson Hole Wildlife Film
Festival provided cameras and
journals for the children, who
filled the journals with stories and
observations and created keepsake
covers to preserve their work.
Students use
hand lenses and
an aquatic insect
chart to identify
food sources for the
birds they observed
earlier in the day.
visit to the refuge
to study such rock
formations as
Miller Butte.
Before the winter
visit to the refuge,
youngsters learned
USFWS
in the classroom
about the area’s
common mammals and the role of
predators in the ecosystem. This lesson
was provided by Beringia South, a
local nonprofit organization dedicated
to preservation of the natural environ­ment.
A refuge staff person visited the
classroom once to teach students about
elk migration and biology, including
winter survival habits, as well as appro­priate
ways to view wildlife to reduce
stress on the animals.
The winter visit to the refuge included
a sleigh ride during which students
identified the major Jackson Hole
landforms, learned to tell the difference
between mature male and female elk
and describe such elk behaviors as
mewing, bugling and sparring. They
also visited the feed shed to learn about
the refuge’s role in supplementing
winter feeding.
Classes in the spring focused on
raptors and migratory birds. Students
dissected pellets in the classroom to
identify the creatures being consumed
by birds. On the refuge, students identi­fied
birds at a wetland site.
open to change
The program created by National Elk
Refuge and its partners addresses at
least four state curriculum standards:
1. Students describe the landforms in
Jackson Hole.
2. Students learn about the interdepen­dence
of all living things.
3. Students learn how they are respon­sible
members of their community and
the environment around them.
4. Students understand the possible
hazards during scientific investigations
and practice safety procedures.
While lessons are designed to meet
these standards, the specifics may
change from year to year according
to the interests and capabilities of
participating organizations. In 2010,
for example, Gina Pasini, a seasonal
biological technician at Red Rock Lakes
National Wildlife Refuge in Montana,
spent a two-week detail at National Elk
Refuge developing learning stations for
the spring field trip.
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SpeciAl RepoRt: BRiNgiNg eNviRoNMeNtAl edUcAtioN to diveRSe AUdieNceS 1 7
Supervisory recreation planner Lori Iverson discusses nature journals with students.
At one station, a refuge volunteer
taught students how to use binoculars
and took them on a bird walk. At the
second station, Pasini focused on bird
beaks and foods. After a short lesson
about how beaks are adapted for the
food a bird eats, children used hand
lenses to identify aquatic insects that
had been scooped from the water by
student volunteer Cord Schultz, who
was completing 40 hours of required
community service on the refuge. Then
Pasini prepared a “macroinvertebrate
soup” with the insects available nearby.
Making School collaborations Work
Iverson, a former teacher herself,
believes there are several keys to
initiating and maintaining effective
partnerships with schools.
Find out what a particular school
or teacher needs. “Teachers always get
requests from people who want to come
into their classroom. As an environmen­tal
educator, you have to ask, ‘What
can I do for you?’ rather than, ‘Here’s
something I have for you.’”
Communicate with teachers regu­larly
– typically with one lead teacher
from each school.
Make sure lessons are aligned
with curriculum objectives, which are
usually established by states and local
school districts; many states are now
adopting national core standards. These
standards are available online and
might include such objectives as, “Stu­dents
communicate the basic needs of
living things and their connection to the
environment.” Some states, including
California and Maryland, have specific
environmental literacy standards.
Don’t just look at science
standards; teach to other subject areas
wherever you can, especially language
arts, social studies or math. Iverson
always tries to mention other subjects
she knows teachers must cover: “Adap­tation.
That’s a big word – let’s spell
it. Or perhaps, if there is a food source
available, but it’s a long ways away, an
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animal may not go to get it. If there are
1,000 calories of food but they’re 500
yards away, how much energy will the
animal expend to get the food?”
Before visiting a classroom, focus
some attention on classroom manage­ment.
Find out if there are children
with disabilities who need accommoda­tions,
if there are behavioral issues, or
if some children don’t speak English.
cameras in Action at
Rocky Mountain Arsenal
Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wild­life
Refuge in Commerce City, CO, has
also used cameras with grand effect –
including student photos displayed in the
rotunda of the state capitol in Denver.
In 2008, former refuge education
specialist Stacy Armitage contacted
Pentax, headquartered in nearby
Golden, seeking someone who could
co-teach a photography class. Instead,
Pentax donated 10 cameras, lenses
and memory cards. David Showalter,
a professional photographer who was
taking pictures on the refuge for a
book, agreed to volunteer his skills for
a refuge photography program with
at-risk youth. Cameras in Action began
as a three-day summer workshop to
connect kids to nature.
“I didn’t know how important it was
until I started doing it,” said Showalter,
who photographed the refuge for his
book Prairie Thunder. “Give kids a
camera, and it completes the circuit
between them and nature. They start
crawling around and bringing back a lot
of intimate landscapes. It’s almost like
they are hard-wired to explore.”
The program targets 15- to 17-year-olds,
often minorities, both from area high
“If you put a cam-era
in someone’s
hands, they have
to look at the world
more closely,”
says photography
instructor David
Showalter.
David Showalter
1 8
schools and The Link, a local resource
center for at-risk young people.
The executive director’s husband
volunteered at the refuge. About 16
students participate each year. The
program took a break in 2011 while the
refuge finished its new visitor center.
In 2012, the refuge will offer a two-day
workshop for high school students plus
a two-day program for middle school
students, which is a more appropriate
match for the youngsters served by
The Link. The changes were made to
spread scarce resources as broadly as
possible and continue the successful
partnership with The Link.
Two-day workshops mean time is of
the essence. “Maximize time in the
field,” emphasizes Showalter. “There
is no reason to spend time learning
Photoshop™ when we can get kids in
the field or photographing a detail of
a bird feather in the visitor center.”
The teens work in pairs, each team
named for a refuge animal. Armed with
cameras and field guides, the teams are
expected to return with observations
written in a notebook, information from
a field guide – and ideally – photos
of their team’s critter. At the end of
the day, they gather to evaluate each
other’s photos.
Each student has a camera – a high-end
digital SLR in this case. But Van
Dreese cautions, “The more elaborate
the camera, the more knowledgeable
the instructor must be. A simple point
and shoot could be most useful. I don’t
know that a specific camera is what
makes this program so successful.
In fact, I sometimes find our fancy
cameras have too many functions and
confuse the kids.”
Workshop participants choose their
best photo for display in the Colorado
State Capitol Building, an opportunity
arranged by a refuge volunteer who
also volunteered at the Capitol. The
Friends of the Front Range – the
refuge Friends organization – paid to
have each photo framed; the framed
photos are later auctioned by the
Friends as a fundraiser. Participants
take home a framed photo as well as a
CD of all their photos and 10 prints of
any size they choose. They also receive
a certificate showing themselves taking
pictures.
“The presentation at the capitol was a
big deal,” says L.A. Rogers, assistant
director at The Link. “We work with
a lot of lower income youth who don’t
always have opportunities. Being
trained by a professional photographer
and being able to pick a picture to
share – every kid was at the capitol
with a parent or representative. This
was definitely on the ‘cool’ spectrum!”
Showalter acknowledges that everyone,
even professional photographers,
“needs affirmation and a sense of accom­plishment,”
but he perceives a larger
purpose for Cameras in Action as well.
“If you put a camera in someone’s hands,
they have to look at the world more
closely. We need to light a lot of sparks
or we are going to have a conservation
void in the future.”
Refuge volunteer
Jim Snyder points
out a bird’s nest
in the cattails to
a group of young
naturalists.
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2 0
infused with Wildlife
teaching Refuges to All Students
By Karen Leggett
Barrett Elementary School
Barrett Elementary School
While some schools offer foreign language immersion programs, Kate Waller
Barrett elementary School in Arlington, vA, offered Refuge System immersion
in 2011-12. Nearly every subject, special event, field trip and family activity
was infused with national wildlife refuges, wildlife or habitat conservation
and … puddles, the Refuge System mascot.
Barrett Elementary is an urban school
just outside Washington, D.C., with 510
students in grades K-5. Almost half do
not speak English as their first language
and more than half are eligible for free
or reduced-price lunches. Two teachers
with boundless energy and imagination
– Laurie Sullivan and Allyson Greene –
oversee Barrett Elementary’s Project
Discovery, in which students delve deeply
into such topics as NASA, engineering
and now wildlife. They get strong support
from the school librarian, classroom
teachers and principal.
Sullivan submitted a year’s worth of
activities, projects and curriculum to
the ToyotaTAPESTRY grant program,
with a letter of support from the
Refuge System. Barrett Elementary
won a $10,000 Toyota grant that has
been spent primarily on computers;
digital cameras; an honorarium for
nature photographer Corey Hilz, who
taught the children about the elements
of design and fundamentals of nature
photography; transportation for field
trips; postage stamps and other miscel­laneous
supplies. Another $2,000 grant
from the ING investment company paid
for binoculars and additional cameras.
Most of the projects required more
creativity, time and enthusiasm than
money, although the Refuge System’s
Washington Office provided significant
quantities of brochures, banners,
Refuge Week posters, Refuge System
coloring books, stickers, pens, other
educational items and speakers on
numerous occasions.
Teachers Cristina Torres and Laurie
Sullivan help children practice
costume-rearing whooping crane chicks.
The school learned in spring 2011 that
it had won the Toyota grant and so
prepared the student body for the ref­uges-
filled curriculum that beckoned for
the next school year. As children were
itching to end school in June 2011, the
Refuge System mascot Puddles danced
through a school assembly, leading
everyone in a loud and lively rendition of
Rock the Refuge (on YouTube at http://
bit.ly/xyB8Dl). The song was written by
Wendy Cohen, a resource teacher for
gifted students, and reprised throughout
the 2011 - 2012 school year. Children
were encouraged to take photos of
their outdoor adventures during the
summer – and even visit nearby wildlife
refuges – while teachers were invited to
training sessions.
prepping Students and teachers
About a dozen teachers came to Patux­ent
Research Refuge in Maryland for
a half-day workshop that included a
tram ride through forest, wetland and
meadow habitats, viewing displays
in the visitor center and discussing
lessons to be used before, during and
after field trips. On another occasion,
Potomac River National Wildlife
Refuge Complex park ranger Patricia
Wood led about two dozen Barrett
teachers in a Project WILD workshop.
Each teacher received the Project
WILD Curriculum and Activity Guide,
which is aligned with the Virginia
Standards of Learning.
When it was time for third- and
fifth-graders to visit Patuxent Refuge
in the fall, they were ready. Barrett
Elementary librarian Margaret Frick
had children research plants and birds
they would find at Patuxent Refuge;
refuge staff remarked on the student’s
level of preparation.
Students mailed letters to family mem-bers,
friends and other refuges asking
them to send back photos of Flat Puddles
on a national wildlife refuge.
Before the year was over, Barrett
students would also visit Elizabeth
Hartwell Mason Neck and Occoquan
Bay National Wildlife Refuges in
Virginia. When fourth-graders were
hiking through Mason Neck Refuge
and State Park in November, they took
photos of plants and landscape, such as
an eroding hill with a tree about to fall,
water flowing over one part of the trail,
leaves or fungus on a tree. One student
in each hiking group recorded the exact
location of each item or specimen. In
April, fourth-graders visited the refuge
again, carrying laminated cards of the
photos and the precise location. As they
found each item in this digital scav­enger
hunt, students had to note any
changes they could observe. Students
also visited Occoquan Bay Refuge to
participate in bird banding.
Throughout the year, Barrett Elemen­tary’s
activities were chronicled in an
extensive blog (http://tinyurl.com/Bar-rettNature),
a Facebook page (http://
tinyurl.com/BarrettNatureFacebook),
photos posted on Flickr (www.flickr.
com/photos/projectdiscovery/) and
videos on YouTube (www.YouTube.com/
BarrettNature).
SpeciAl RepoRt: BRiNgiNg eNviRoNMeNtAl edUcAtioN to diveRSe AUdieNceS 2 1
On a giant map of the United States, Puddles “drove” a school bus through several states
every time the children read another 5,000 books. Reading is the fuel for the bus to pass
First-graders learned what is happen­ing
to polar bears on Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge. Second-graders used
a Build-a-Bird application on iPads that
required them to select the right beaks,
wings, habitat and body for several spe­cific
birds. Third-graders are learning
about energy and renewable resources.
They will use their new knowledge
to become “energy consultants” and
suggest ways for refuges to use more
renewable resources of energy.
Fourth-graders prepared presentations
for second-graders, including video
clips and PowerPoint and in one case,
a puppet show with marionettes fash­ioned
from the animals in the coloring
book. The students evaluated each pre­sentation,
deciding whether it answered
questions in a memorable way: What
is a wildlife refuge? What wildlife can
be found there? What habitats can be
Barrett Elementary School
Barrett Elementary School
found there? What do people do on a
by more and more national wildlife refuges.
day by day in the classroom
Principal Terry Bratt challenged
students to read 60,000 books during
the school year. On a giant map of the
United States, Puddles “drove” a school
bus through several states every time
the children read another 5,000 books.
Reading is the fuel for the bus to pass
by more and more national wildlife
refuges. One fourth-grader came into
the Discovery Lab and looked longingly
at the book America’s Wildlife Refuges:
Lands of Promise. “I’ve been waiting
to read this book,” he said. “There are
so many refuges, I don’t know how I’m
going to get to them all.”
Sullivan and Greene collaborated with
classroom teachers to incorporate
refuge information, themes and activi­ties
into many curriculum areas, always
making sure that they were helping
teachers meet Virginia’s Standards
of Learning curriculum objectives. As
with most state standards, the objec­tives
spiral through the grades, with
children first learning about animals,
then habitats and environments, then
interactions among species.
“We could easily see that through the
refuges, we could teach major concepts
such as habitats, ecosystems, plants,
animals, seasons and human impact
on environments,” said Sullivan. “We
could envision students learning about
the jobs refuge managers and wildlife
biologists carry out. The students could
replicate the science and mathematics
skills that are used on the job, such
as observation, data collection, data
analysis and sharing results.”
One kindergarten lesson focused on two
questions: What is a wildlife refuge?
What is a habitat? Youngsters learned
to use tally marks to track each piece
of information they learned about an
animal’s habitat (food, water, shelter,
space). They learned about refuges
from the Refuge System coloring book
that was given to each child.
Kindergartners pretended to be whoop­ing
cranes migrating through the halls
of Barrett Elementary – an iMovie
of their frenzied fluttering is online.
Barrett Elementary
students learned
about the entire
Refuge System,
including Kîlauea
Point National
Wildlife Refuge in
Hawai’i, as they
received photos and
information in re-sponse
to their letter
writing campaign.
wildlife refuge? Why are wildlife refuges
important?
Fifth-graders, who traditionally
produce a bound “treasure book” filled
this year’s books with their own nature
writing and photos.
Special events
Special days and family activity nights
also featured refuges at Barrett
Elementary. National Fire & Emergency
Response Advisor Fred Wetzel, marine
specialist Brett Wolfe, and birding
specialist Michael Carlo all attended
Career Day from the Washington Office.
Greene said there was a noticeable
increase in the number of students who
could envision working in nature- or
science-related fields. One first-grader
wants to be a mycologist because “she
had learned the word and liked fungus,”
explained Greene with a smile. A mother
asked how to say “forest ranger” in
Spanish.
2 2
The Rock the Refuge Celebration and
Science Discovery Fair in February
featured a chance to take a photo with
Puddles, several participants from the
Refuge System Washington Office, a
live raptor show, a bird migration game
in the gym, and animal and nature
projects in the Discovery Lab and the
library.
Flat puddles
Librarian Frick used Flat Puddles as a
springboard to help children and their
families learn about refuges all over
the country. Based on the Flat Stanley
children’s books, Flat Puddles is a flat
paper image of the blue goose. In their
science enrichment class, students
mailed Flat Puddles with a standard
letter to friends, family members and
other refuges asking them to “Please
take this picture of a Blue Goose to a
wildlife refuge near you. … Find a great
spot to take a picture of Flat Puddles
experiencing the outdoors.” Students
used both traditional postal mail
(with $176 worth of postage stamps!)
and email with a specially created
account for PuddlesBGoose@gmail.
com. The response was tremendous and
immediate.
More than 500 digital photos were
sent from students’ family and friends
after they visited distant refuges or
from refuges themselves. Refuges sent
stamps, brochures and a promise to
send Flat Puddles to another refuge.
Frick used each email or letter as an
opportunity to introduce the youngest
children to research. They would locate
the refuge in a state, find out a little
bit of information about the state and
learn about an animal that lived on the
refuge.
Michael Carlo, a Refuge System visitor
services specialist who participated in
several events at Barrett Elementary,
believes the year-long involvement
with refuges “created continuity, not
just a memory.” Carlo especially liked
the powerful and visible connection
that was made when several Refuge
Third-graders wrote new lyrics to a
popular song and danced during a pep
rally to kick off a year-long celebration
of national wildlife refuges at Barrett
Elementary School.
System staffers showed up for a single
event, like the science night devoted
entirely to conservation. If the entire
Barrett Elementary program seems
overwhelming, Carlo recommends that
a refuge work with a single school to
identify five goals or activities to accom­plish
in a single year. Then evaluate the
outcomes before deciding to continue
for another year.
To get the kind of results seen at
Barrett Elementary, Sullivan suggests
that refuges contact the science lead
teacher or the person in charge of
the science curriculum for the entire
district. Teacher meetings offer
refuge staff a chance to speak about
partnership opportunities or provide
simple fliers: “Would your kids like
to see deer antlers? We have a lesson
that meets your curriculum standards.”
Simple, printed material is more likely
to be read than emails, say the Barrett
teachers.
“Make sure teachers have an oppor­tunity
to say what they would like to
see as part of any project,” advises
Sullivan. “Teachers at every grade level
at Barrett saw our proposal before it
was submitted.” She also mentioned the
particular appeal of Puddles and small
educational items – like pencils, cal­endars,
stickers and all those coloring
books – that children can take home.
Barrett Elementary concluded the
school year with a Rock the Refuge
assembly showcasing students’ refuge-related
creations. “The Refuge System
is a priceless gift, reflecting the great
diversity of the tapestry of life and the
commitment of the United States to
wildlife conservation,” wrote Sullivan
in her grant application, quoting from
the Smithsonian Book of National
Wildlife Refuges by Eric Jay Dolin. “We
hope as a result of this project that our
students, parents, educators and the
community will better appreciate this
gift and care for it in the future.”
to get the kind of results seen at Barrett elementary, Sullivan suggests that
refuges contact the science lead teacher or the person in charge of the science
curriculum for the entire district. teacher meetings offer refuge staff a chance
to speak about partnership opportunities.
Barrett Elementary School
SpeciAl RepoRt: BRiNgiNg eNviRoNMeNtAl edUcAtioN to diveRSe AUdieNceS 2 3
2 4
A student learns by doing,
becoming comfortable in the
natural habitat around him.
�
Building environmental literacy one class at a time
From 26 Students to 320 in three Years
By Karen Leggett
For the past three years, every student in third- through sixth-grade at imperial
Beach elementary School has come to units of the San diego National Wildlife
Refuge complex in california twice a year – 320 students from an urban,
predominantly minority, low-income school who receive rarely offered hands-on
instruction about wildlife and habitat.
It all started with one teacher who
wanted her fourth-graders to know
about the natural world around them.
“Students learn about how to take care
of this habitat,” said Cheryl Evans. “It
is literally in some of their backyards.”
Gradually more grade levels began
coming to the refuge and they came
more frequently.
Third-graders come to Tijuana Slough
Refuge and the Sweetwater Marsh
Unit of San Diego Bay Refuge to
learn about estuaries. In fourth-grade,
they go to San Diego Refuge to learn
about riparian habitats and the impact
of upriver activity downriver. By
fifth-grade, youngsters are learning
about the water quality in the bay by
visiting San Diego Bay Refuge and
learning about oak woodland habitat at
Crestridge Ecological Reserve (a state
partner). They are also able to see that
the coastal sage scrub they planted in
fourth-grade is growing. By sixth-grade,
they are teaching each other: “Oh, don’t
you remember when we went there and
did this?” “I planted over here.” “This is
where I learned to use binoculars.”
A curriculum has been created for
each refuge or refuge unit. San Diego
Refuge Complex environmental educa­tion
specialist Chantel Jimenez worked
with teachers to write the curriculum
and update it to meet changing state
objectives. This year for the first time,
California teachers must meet specific
requirements in environmental literacy.
Third-graders, for example, must learn
about “structures for survival in a
healthy ecosystem;” sixth-graders are
to learn about the “dynamic nature
of rivers.” The curriculum also meets
state standards and objectives in other
subject areas, such as language arts
and social studies.
Salt Marsh Bingo
The teacher’s guide for each refuge
includes activities (with detailed
procedures and required materials), a
glossary and background information.
One activity uses a specially made
bingo game to teach salt marsh plant
adaptations. Students receive a hand
lens and a bingo card with pictures of
different wetland plants. Some plants
are excreters, some accumulators. The
hand lens enables children to see salt
crystals on any plants that are excret­ers.
As they would for a scavenger
hunt, students search the salt marsh for
plants shown on the bingo cards. They
have to identify three in a row and
then show their classmates where they
found the plants.
After the bingo game, students choose
one salt marsh plant to observe more
carefully, recording specific information
on observation sheets that ask such ques­tions
as, “Where is your plant found? Is
the soil wet or dry? Is your plant slender
or bushy? Are the leaves thick or thin?
Sticky, waxy or hairy? Children also have
room on their observation sheets to draw
a picture of their plant.
For the teachers, the guide explains
words like halophyte (a plant that
grows in salty or alkaline soil), excreter
Barren land becomes green one year after students plant coastal sage scrub.
�
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SpeciAl RepoRt: BRiNgiNg eNviRoNMeNtAl edUcAtioN to diveRSe AUdieNceS 2 5
By the time children come as sixth-graders,
they are more engaged. Not only
are they prepared to get wet, but they can
also talk about cord grass and plankton,
not just bugs and leaves. “Their hands
come up quicker to answer questions,”
says Jimenez. There is pride of ownership.
“I heard a kid say that he brought his
mom to water his plants in the summer.”
value of Multiple visits
“We need programs that don’t take
much time, aren’t too expensive and
build upon knowledge from previous
years,” says Jimenez. Jimenez acknowl­edges
the value of being at a refuge
that is on a public trolley line as an
important way to reduce transportation
costs. Eventually, Jimenez hopes to
train a cadre of volunteers or docents
who can also be environmental educa­tors
on the refuge.
Each of the refuge’s educational
experiences is available to any school.
Teachers may choose Sweetwater
Safari or Tijuana Estuary Explorers –
or both. Typically, 12 to 20 classes come
to the refuge each year to do a single
USFWS
A big key to success in initiating a school-wide program is to start small and
have a champion at the school.
and accumulator with examples of each.
Picklewood stores salt, sea lavender
excretes salt. There is also a brief dis­cussion
of how plants survive in salt so
that teachers have an understanding of
the science their students are expected
to learn. Both students and teachers
can also learn the same information
visually in the refuge exhibit hall.
getting Started
A big key to success in initiating a
school-wide program is to start small
and have a champion at the school.
“We started with one classroom of 26
students with one teacher and it grew
from there. There were money issues,
grants that didn’t come through. But
it will happen if you have good people
on your team. Take time to find those
people,” advises Jimenez, adding that
“to have a school that is dedicated to
taking time out of the classroom says
a lot about the value of this program.
And it all started with one teacher.”
Teacher Cheryl Evans credits Jimenez
as well. “This works because Chantel
and I work closely together and coor­dinate
our efforts. She makes sure the
refuge is ready for us and I make sure
the teachers know what is expected of
them.”
�
Jimenez provides a half-day of training
for the teachers before students appear.
“The teachers learn what the students
learn,” says Jimenez. “What is a tidal
salt marsh? What habitats and plants
will kids see? What science objectives
are they meeting?” Teachers often feel
they don’t have the expertise to lead
a field trip on their own, so Jimenez’
training is intended to enable them to
answer a few questions without feeling
as if they need to be the expert.
The San Diego Refuge education
program is funded with grants from
Sempa Energy Foundation and the
California Wetlands Recovery Program,
as well as smaller grants and help
with transportation funding from the
Friends of San Diego Refuge. Most of
the instructors are contractors from
the Earth Discovery Institute and paid
by the refuge.
program.
Jimenez has concluded that “multiple
trips in a year and multiple visits over
several years have had a greater impact
on the students’ connection with nature
and desire to be outside.” Jimenez is
thrilled when children have an “awe”
moment: doing science in the field,
putting a plankton net in the water and
realizing it is full of living creatures –
creatures they didn’t want to touch at
first.
By the time children come as sixth-graders,
they are more engaged. Not
only are they prepared to get wet, but
they can also talk about cord grass
and plankton, not just bugs and leaves.
“Their hands come up quicker to answer
questions,” says Jimenez. There is
pride of ownership. “I heard a kid say
that he brought his mom to water his
plants in the summer.”
Evans also believes there is long-term
value in helping children feel comfort­able
in the natural habitat surrounding
them. “There are signs posted saying
that we have planted in certain areas.
Former students are always coming
over to tell me what they see when they
go over to the refuge. And one student
always says, ‘this is the best field trip
ever,’ each time we go.”
2 6
Field lesson: Salt Marsh plants
teAcHeR’S NoteS
duration
40 minutes
location
Outside next to Salt
Marsh Plants
Halophyte
(hal e fit) A plant that
grows in salty or
alkaline soil
excreter
Releases or gets rid
of salt
Accumulator
Holds in salt
Marsh succulents
like Jaumea and
pickleweed store salt
inside their tissues
Salt grass excretes
salt onto its leaves
Alkali heath is
another marsh grass
that excretes salt
cordgrass
excretes salt
Sea lavender
excretes salt
overview
This activity uses a specially made
bingo game to teach salt marsh plant
adaptations. Students will choose one
salt marsh plant to observe and record
in their journal.
objectives
Students will:
• Be able to distinguish how salt marsh
plants adapt to a salty environment.
• Know the difference between accu­mulator
and excreter; describe the
physical characteristics of both.
• Learn two endangered bird species
that are dependent on salt marsh
plants.
Materials
• Salt marsh plant sign
• Explorer plant backpack:
• Bingo cards
• Bingo card pieces
• Hand lenses
• Explorer journal
Background
Salt marsh plants live in a very extreme
environment. Salt marshes are places
where salt water from the ocean fills up
the marsh daily during the high tides.
The plants that live here must deal with
this daily influx of water and salt. They
are unique in that they have special
adaptations to living with high quanti­ties
of salt.
procedure
1. Before explaining the rules of the
bingo game, give a hand lens to each
student. Explain that the hand lens
will allow them to see salt crystals on
the excreters or any other detail.
2. Explain the rules of the bingo game.
3. Each pair of students gets a bingo
card (all the cards are the same).
The cards have pictures of different
wetland plants. Each plant is either
an excreter or an accumulator.
4. One plant is not an excreter or
accumulator (salt marsh bird’s beak).
This plant is located in the upper
middle box on the bingo sheet.
5. Explain that this plant is endangered
and therefore we are not allowed to
be near it. This space on the card is
a “freebie” for everyone. The green
bingo card piece goes on the salt
marsh bird’s beak space.
6. The other bingo card pieces are to
block out other squares on the card.
Some pieces have a clapper rail and
some have the Belding’s savannah
sparrow. Clapper rail pieces go on
excreter plants marked “excreter.”
Savannah sparrows go on accumula­tor
plants marked “accumulator.”
7. Each pair of students tries to find
the plants on the bingo cards on
their own in the salt marsh like a
scavenger hunt. They will have to get
at least three in a row and be able to
share with the class where they found
them. Define the boundaries of where
they can go.
8. After the plant bingo, each student
picks one plant to observe and takes
notes in a field journal using the
provided observation sheets.
Students choose one salt marsh plant to
observe more carefully – such as this salt
marsh bird’s beak plant – and answer
such questions as, “Where is your plant
found? Are the leaves thick or thin?
Sticky, waxy or hairy?”
Lisa Cox
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2 8
George Gentry
environmental learning =
one trail + Many partners
By Heather Dewar
What does it take to teach the children of hard-pressed immigrant farm
workers how to do science and feel at home in wilderness? At Florida panther
National Wildlife Refuge near Naples, Fl, it takes a refuge trail and a carefully-crafted
set of hands-on lessons in scientific fieldwork, designed in partnership
with local teachers, the Florida department of environmental protection (dep),
and the staffs of nearby parks and reserves.
Florida Panther Refuge and another
Florida refuge, St. Marks National
Wildlife Refuge in the Florida
Panhandle, are among the field sites
participating in 18 localized versions
of the state’s Learning In Florida’s
Environment (LIFE) program. Now in
its eighth year, the program seeks to
boost middle school students’ science
achievement and environmental aware­ness,
placing priority on schools where
poverty rates are high and scores on
state achievement tests are low.
Participating schools work with the
state and with educators from various
outdoor sites to develop a yearlong
environmental science curriculum,
anchored by field excursions to several
sites where the children collect, record
and analyze basic ecological data. The
Big Cypress Watershed Project, which
includes Florida Panther Refuge as a
field station, is one of the LIFE pro­gram’s
busiest sites. In November and
December, some 550 seventh-graders
from three Collier County middle
schools take turns visiting the refuge
for a day of field observations and a
dollop of educational play.
Students learn how differences
in elevation and plant life affect
where panthers prefer to hunt.
�
Though Naples is known as a wealthy
enclave, many students in the LIFE
program have parents who work in low-paying
service industries, or as migrant
farm workers. Immokalee Middle
School, for example, is in the heart of
South Florida’s winter vegetable belt,
where the local radio station broadcasts
in Spanish, Haitian Creole and two
Mayan languages, and 40 percent of the
population lives on incomes below the
federal poverty line.
“Most of the students have parents who
work two or three jobs to put food on
the table,” said Florida Panther Refuge
ranger Sandy Mickey. “They can’t
afford family trips to the beach, so any
chance to spend time in nature is a
major life experience for them.”
customized lesson plans
The LIFE program’s constant is hands-on
data collection, centered on basics
such as air and water temperature,
humidity, wind speed, water depth
and salinity. Customized lesson plans
teach students how to use that data as
another way of seeing the landscape,
and understanding how plants and
animals survive in it. For example, in
one field exercise students propose
a hypothesis about the role of soil
moisture (or another abiotic factor)
in determining what plants grow in
a particular spot, and then measure
soil moisture to test their hypotheses.
In South Florida, where a few inches’
change in elevation spells the difference
between a pine-forested upland, a
sawgrass prairie and a watery cypress
slough, there are lots of possibilities.
As the only environmental educator on
a refuge that is mostly closed to the
public, Mickey recruits helpers from
the refuge staff, the LIFE program,
other environmental learning centers,
and participating schools. “Even the
school bus drivers get involved,” she
said.
Classes are split into two groups. Half
gather data in habitats that support
dozens of varieties of native orchids,
bromeliads and other epiphytes. Many
have never seen plants growing
anywhere other than a field, and
are astonished by the refuge’s wild
abundance of epiphytes, which in some
places cover virtually every limb of
every tree.
The others collect data in three
different habitats – a wet prairie, a
tropical hardwood hammock, and a pine
flatwood. They learn how elevation
determines the plant community; how
plants create a microclimate; and how
those factors combine to determine
where panthers prefer to hunt for
white-tailed deer and where they hide
out with their cubs.
“We see panther tracks pretty often,”
Mickey said, and the children respond
with “complete enthusiasm and awe...
The really cool part of the program is
getting them out on the trail and watch­ing
their eyes light up” when the data
come alive.
After a morning of data gathering and
lunch, the students set aside their data
sheets “to blow off steam before they
get back on the bus,” Mickey said. For
the afternoon’s more rambunctious
learning sessions, Mickey has tweaked
the classic game of tag.
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Role playing
In one version half the children play
the role of Florida panthers traveling
through their home range, while the
other kids play obstacles the children
encounter on the way, such as highways,
mercury contamination, prey shortages,
or other cats defending their home
ranges. By game’s end the children
have learned about threats facing the
endangered panthers and the impor­tance
of wildlife corridors.
In the other activity, half the children
play the part of fire, while the other
half don red shirts to play wildland
firefighters, who try to keep the “fire”
confined in a marked-off square. The
students experiment with various
fire control measures to even out the
game – moving pylons to simulate
bulldozed fire lines or calling in an
imaginary aerial water drop, carried
out by a student who swoops across
the field wearing a helicopter pilot’s
helmet. By the game’s end, the children
have learned about the principles of
prescribed burning, Mickey said.
The games “have been really effective
at getting the students to run around
and burn off some energy but also to
learn while they’re playing,” said David
Graff, coordinator for the LIFE Big
Cypress Watershed Project.
The LIFE program is flexible enough
to accommodate sites as different as St.
Marks Refuge, an environmental educa­tion
powerhouse that offers programs
to thousands of people each year, and
Florida Panther Refuge, which has
limited public access and – aside from
a few special events each year – offers
fewer programs and recreational
activities.
Each program shares common
elements, said Misty Alderman, an
environmental education specialist who
coordinates the LIFE program for the
Florida Department of Environmental
Protection. Among them are:
Multiple visits to outdoor sites,
each with its own set of unique field
labs;
Localized content, collaboratively
designed to mesh with teachers’
curricula;
Lesson plans that incorporate
the fieldwork into science, math, social
studies and even language classes;
Pre- and post-visit testing to
confirm that students have learned the
key concepts; and
Teacher training to implement the
lesson plans and follow up on student
outcomes.
Participating teachers spend two full
days going over the field activities in
detail, Graff said. At the start of the
program, teachers walk through the
field activities, either in a classroom or,
if possible, at one of the sites their stu­dents
will visit. The teachers collect the
data, test the sampling equipment and
note any changes in the lesson plans.
When the semester ends the teachers
Florida Panther National Wildlife
Refuge participates in Florida’s LIFE
(Learning In Florida’s Environment)
program, in which students collect,
record and analyze basic ecological
data on the refuge.
go over the students’ data sheets in
detail, assessing which ones succeeded
in their teaching objectives and which
ones need to be modified.
What does it cost?
Start-up costs for LIFE programs vary,
but a bare-bones price tag to establish
the program in three middle schools is
around $5,000, not including the state
LIFE program staffers’ time. It costs
about $2,000 per year to sustain a LIFE
program serving 150 students, with
most of that money going to provide
bus transportation, Alderman said.
In these days of lean school budgets,
the state does not pick up the tab. The
DEP’s LIFE staff helps school districts
obtain grants from various state and
federal sources. NOAA’s Bay Water­shed
Education and Training (B-WET)
program has funded the LIFE program
at Florida Panther Refuge for three
years. Some sites receive one-year
state grants.
The Florida DEP points to students’
higher math and science scores in
internal tests and, for some schools, on
statewide achievement tests as well.
In a modified version of tag, half
the children play the part of fire,
while the other half play wildland
firefighters trying to keep the “fire”
confined in a marked-off square.
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“We see panther tracks pretty often,” Sandy Mickey said, and the children
respond with “complete enthusiasm and awe. … the really cool part of the
program is getting them out on the trail and watching their eyes light up”
when the data come alive.
For example, in 2010, the year after
the first group of Immokalee Middle
School seventh-graders completed
the program, about one-fourth of the
school’s eighth-graders passed the
state-mandated science achievement
test. That might be considered a sad
result, but it’s a 92 percent improve­ment
over the school’s passing rate the
year before.
There’s no proof of cause and effect,
but Florida DEP surveys found that
in 2010, 95 percent of the teachers
participating in the LIFE program felt
it boosted their students’ achievement
test scores.
Students also give the program a
thumbs-up. In 2010, 61 percent said the
program made them more comfortable
outdoors; 79 percent said the field
work was fun; 80 percent said the field
activities helped them understand their
science lessons better; and 81 percent
agreed that “the outdoor field activities
have made me more aware of how my
actions affect the environment.” When
asked for details, the students replied
with specifics like, “turn off lights when
I’m not using them,” “clean up dog poop
even if it’s not my dog poop,” “plant
some local flowers around my house,”
and “respect Earth.”
Environmental educators at refuges
and elsewhere can use the program’s
free field lab outlines, which are site-specific,
but can be adapted to other
locations. To see the field labs, go to the
LIFE program web page – www.dep.
state.fl.us/secretary/ed/lifeprogram.htm
– find the list of participating sites, and
click each site’s links to see its unique
content.
Lesson plans incorporate
science, math, social studies,
language – and sometimes a
canoe ride – into field trips
to Florida Panther National
Wildlife Refuge.
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Nature in the city
the garden that an ee partnership Built
By Karen Leggett
longstreth elementary School teacher chuck lafferty, who grew up near
pennsylvania’s tinicum Marsh, now has a kindergarten classroom full of bugs
and reptiles. it’s all part of making the marsh and nearby John Heinz National
Wildlife Refuge at tinicum key parts of his kindergarten curriculum at the inner-city
school where one father says most kids don’t have anything to do with nature.
Central to Lafferty’s curriculum is a
pollinator garden at the refuge, which
the students started and maintain.
Lafferty calls the connection between
the children and the refuge “a shining
example of what is possible when a
group of dedicated and devoted people
get together.” Refuge manager Gary
Stolz agrees on the importance of part­nering
with “teachers who have the
spark. Then help them get the materials
they need any way they can. You need
shared ownership in these projects.”
In addition to the school and the refuge,
others involved in the partnership have
included the Refuge Friends organization,
the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society,
National Fish and Wildlife Foundation,
Penn State University Master Garden­ers
and Project BudBurst. For example,
Longstreth Elementary School had a
partnership with the Pennsylvania
Horticultural Society, which donated
soil for a vegetable garden at the school
that was used for native plants beds
on the refuge.
It all started in 2000 in a vacant lot
next to a Longstreth School annex,
which Lafferty’s students turned into
a schoolyard habitat with $122 they
had collected – in pennies. In 2001, the
Children carried
soil to the raised beds
in buckets.
school received a Sea World Busch
Gardens environmental award for the
garden and that same year, Lafferty
met Jean Diehl of the Friends of Heinz
Refuge. The Friends offered to sell
organic seeds from the schoolyard
habitat and return half of the profits to
the school’s other environmental educa­tion
programs.
Humanity for Habitat
Lafferty, who joined the Friends
board, jumped at Diehl’s suggestion
that the Friends apply for a Nature of
Learning grant from the National Fish
and Wildlife Foundation so Longstreth
Elementary students could construct
a pollinator garden at John Heinz
Refuge. The grant, awarded in late
2010, provided funds to purchase more
than 2,000 native plants, nurtured in
beds at Longstreth Elementary and
transplanted to the
refuge.
Pennsylvania is
currently develop­ing
statewide
standards for
outdoor educa­tion.
Lafferty
says Longstreth
Elementary will
Weeds and old
plants went into a
compost bin which
later provided soil
to fill the raised beds
of the pollinator
garden.
be one of the few schools with its own
place to meet standards without leaving
school grounds. Native plants grown in
the Longstreth Elementary beds will
be made available to other schools in
Philadelphia.
The children came to the refuge in
February 2011 to begin working on the
project. They cleared everything out
of an original habitat garden. “We had
30 kids and eight parents, including six
dads,” remembers Lafferty.
The native plants from the habitat
garden on the refuge were taken back
to the Longstreth Elementary Native
Plant Nursery, where kindergarteners
and their sixth-grade habitat buddies
cared for them over the winter. Every­thing
else went into a compost pile. On
the second visit, raised beds were built
to hold the composted soil. Parents, volun­teers,
Friends and refuge staff provided a
three to one ratio of adults to kids. Even
kindergarteners were proudly wielding
their own shovels and rakes.
The Friends paid for bus transportation
for six field trips and project t-shirts.
Five-year-old Shanice Gonzalez drew
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Sixth-graders
produced a
brochure on the
benefits of using
native plants in
home gardening.
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Kindergarteners were accompanied on each trip to the Longstreth Elementary School teacher Chuck Lafferty gathers
refuge by a class of sixth-graders. Everyone had work to do children for an impromptu lesson on the refuge.
in the garden.
“Refuges are often isolated islands of habitat,” says gary Stolz. “By encouraging and helping create schoolyard and
backyard habitat partnerships, with pollinator gardens on refuges as models, we can help restore fragmented wildlife
corridors beyond refuge boundaries for the benefit of all Americans.”
the winning design for the bright yellow Kindergarteners were accompanied Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Lafferty
shirts adorned with the phrase, Human- on each trip to the refuge by a class of will also conduct teacher workshops
ity for Habitat. “This project brings a sixth-graders. During each three-hour at Longstreth based on Access Nature
smile to every face. It generates good field trip, children split their time and the Habitat Project Guide.
will and a spirit of togetherness,” says evenly between working in the garden
Lafferty. and taking a guided walk. Lafferty The pollinator garden is already having
uses lessons both in the classroom and an impact on the refuge and the com-
By spring, children were carrying soil on the refuge from the U.S. Fish and munity. The Pennsylvania Horticultural
to the raised beds in buckets, calling Wildlife Service Schoolyard Habitat Society honored the refuge and its pol-themselves
“ants” as they formed a Project Guide and the National Wildlife linator garden with the 2011 Community
steady line between the mound of Federation’s Access Nature program. Greening Award. Diehl, for whom the
composted soil and the planting beds. garden is the culmination of a 30-year
Every time a youngster discovered a Sixth-graders produced a brochure on dream, says “the garden has proved to
worm, snail or caterpillar, there was the benefits of using native plants in be a magnet for guided butterfly and
an excited announcement and all work home gardening. They also met a school wildflower walks during the refuge’s
stopped until a safe new home could be requirement to complete a 20-hour annual Cradle of Birding Celebration.
found. “Not one of them would squash service learning project. Kindergarten children have bonded
a bug or deliberately harm any living with their natural world – a lesson that
creature,” wrote the Friends in their On June 7, 2011, kindergarteners and will not soon be forgotten.”
project report to the National Fish and sixth-graders put finishing touches on
Wildlife Foundation. the garden as well as a small pond for “Refuges are often isolated islands of
wetland vegetation and fish. Students habitat,” says Stolz, “By encouraging
“With each visit, students became more set landscaping rocks around the perim- and helping create schoolyard and
eager to see how the garden was doing, eter before celebrating with lunch and backyard habitat partnerships, with
how their plants looked and what polli- an award ceremony. A state legislator pollinator gardens on refuges as models,
nators were visiting the garden,” noted invited to the ceremony later invited we can help restore fragmented wildlife
John Heinz Refuge ranger Mariana refuge manager Gary Stolz to talk corridors beyond refuge boundaries for
Bergerson. “There were also many about the refuge on his radio program. the benefit of all Americans.”
unplanned teaching moments such as
when the students assembled to take a What’s Next?
picture and one little girl proclaimed, ‘I Lafferty is now teaching first-grade,
just sat on a turtle!’” so about half the youngsters from his
kindergarten class will continue going
with him to the refuge. Lafferty’s
students also will be collecting informa­tion
for Project BudBurst, a citizen
science phenology project through the
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3 6
“What is given in the Right Way cannot Be Forgotten”
connecting children, Nature and culture by teaching cooperatively with Native elders
By Heather Dewar
their grandparents moved across the land with the seasons, traveling by dog
team in winter to find caribou, fishing in the Selawik River in fall, returning
from their travels to sod houses in small, scattered settlements. But now North­west
Alaska’s inupiat eskimo people live year-round in permanent houses.
Many children in the community of
Selawik, Alaska, spend months at a
time without leaving their village of 900
souls, and have few chances to learn
the skills that have been handed down
through generations. For centuries
the region’s tundra, lakes and rivers
provided fish and caribou to support
the village’s traditional subsistence
culture. The land, which became part
of the 2.5-million-acre Selawik National
Wildlife Refuge in 1980, still provides
abundant fish and game. But airplanes
and satellite dishes now link the village
to the wider world, and money is a
necessity. Jobs are few, and Selawik’s
people, 95 percent of whom are Inupiat,
struggle with poverty, alcoholism, and
the loss of young people, who leave to
find work.
The village elders wanted to keep
Inupiaq traditions alive while strength­ening
family and community bonds.
Staffers at Selawik Refuge shared that
goal, said Susan Georgette, the refuge’s
outreach specialist. The refuge, created
in 1980, encompasses 2.15 million acres
of Western Arctic wilderness where
native people have lived for more than
10,000 years. Refuge staffers realize
they are newcomers by comparison.
They see the sharing of traditional
knowledge as a powerful, appropriate
and respectful way to connect children
with nature – and also as a way of
strengthening bonds between the
refuge and the community.
Village elders teach
older children how to
set and haul nets for
whitefish.
In 2003, with the refuge’s help, the
village council and other partners
founded the Selawik Science and
Culture Camp, where elders work
with refuge employees to teach the
youngsters traditional hunting and
fishing techniques, as well as scientific
methods in wildlife biology.
Each year in mid-September when the
caribou are migrating and wild berries
are ripe, students take two days off
from classes at the village’s 240-student,
kindergarten-through-12th-grade school,
traveling by boat to a traditional fishing
site on the refuge. The camp is part
communal harvest and part outdoor
classroom, where all the lessons are
hands-on and scientific learning is woven
into traditional teachings.
learning to hold an ulu and a scalpel
Village elders teach older children how
to set and haul nets for whitefish, the
staple fish that, like salmon in other
parts of Alaska, is the essential protein
in villagers’ diet. Meanwhile refuge
staffers talk about ongoing research
into the fish’s life cycle, or explore the
waters for aquatic insects with the
younger children.
Elders and other community members
take the lead, tailoring activities to the
weather and the day’s harvest from the
land and sea. Refuge staffers consult
with the elders, offering lessons and
activities that support and supplement
traditional teachings. For example,
in a typical lesson a village woman
demonstrates the use of the ulu, the
woman’s knife, to scale and cut a fish
for drying on an open-air rack. Then a
Service staffer demonstrates how the
fish’s gills extract oxygen from water,
teaches the students how to tell its age
from its scales and
otoliths, and
dissects the fish’s
internal organs.
“They love the
heart and the eye­balls,”
Georgette
said.
Students travel by
boat to a tradition-al
fishing site on
Selawik National
Wildlife Refuge in
Alaska.
By weaving the concepts of Western
science into the framework of
traditional knowledge, refuge staffers
convey the message that these two
ways of knowing need not conflict. The
children are encouraged to feel equally
comfortable holding an ulu or a scalpel.
The village of Selawik runs the camp,
with funding and other support from
the NANA (Northwest Alaska Native
Association) Regional Corporation, the
Northwest Arctic Borough, the North­west
Arctic Borough School District
and Selawik Refuge.
Community members built an 18-by­30-
foot framed tent that is the camp’s
only indoor space. The U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service provided a $10,000
Challenge Cost Share grant to the tribal
council, which pays the salaries of a
camp manager, cooks and boat drivers,
and provides honoraria for the teaching
elders. The grant also covers the cost
of gasoline for the boats, which in 2011
cost about $8 per gallon. The school
system contributes additional labor and
materials. About half of the refuge’s
11 staffers participate in the camp’s
two-week run.
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Susan Georgette
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inspiration, interest and dash of chaos
The curriculum at the Science and
Culture Camp is informal.“It’s very
unstructured and it can seem a little
chaotic to someone from the Lower 48,”
Georgette said, “but it’s how villages
teach their youth. They believe that
kids will learn when they’re ready to
learn.”
The camp is broken into four two-day
sessions with 20 to 40 children in each
group. The youngest students attend
the first session, followed by children
in grades 4-6, junior high and finally
the high school students. The village
school has only one class for each of the
elementary grades, so the younger stu­dents
and their teachers attend camp
together. Junior high and high school
teachers are invited to come to camp
if they wish – and each year several
attend, often learning traditional skills
alongside their students.
On a typical day, the students meet
on the riverbank for a 15-minute boat
ride to the camp site. There, one group
accompanies two or three adults to
check the fishing nets. Other students
collect buckets and go berry-picking on
the tundra, learning plant identification
skills along the way. Another group
listens to an elder talk about the
link between subsistence skills and
self-respect.
The refuge team helps ensure there is
enough variety in the day’s activities
to keep the children engaged. For
example, a refuge employee may pull
out print-making materials and teach
the children how to make leaf prints.
Refuge staffers continually try new
activities. In the 2011 session, refuge
employees brought along small aquatic
nets and taught the elementary school
students how to fish for invertebrates.
Some children were fascinated and
spent hours with their nets, while
others quickly moved on to something
different.
One activity that’s always a favorite is
a photo scavenger hunt, using digital
cameras provided by the refuge. While
snapping photos of an insect, a circle-shaped
object found in nature, or a
napaaqtuq (a spruce tree), the students
are learning ecology, the Inupiaq
language and field observation.
The unstructured approach allows the
children to pursue their own interests,
Georgette said. Keeping tabs on the
campers is not a problem since plenty
of grown-ups are on scene. With elders,
teacher-observers, refuge staff, boat
drivers, and cook, about 15 adults
are usually in camp – and by custom,
village children are allowed some
freedom from constant, close adult
supervision.
Being the provider
When camp ends, community members,
teachers and students gather for a
potluck of caribou soup, baked and
dried fish and a traditional Inupiaq
dessert of whitefish eggs mixed with
wild berries. The feast gives the
children “the satisfaction of being the
provider,” Georgette said. “In northern
Alaska there’s a lot of cultural pride in
getting food from the land.”
Susan Georgette
Villagers teach
students how to scale
and cut a fish for
drying on an open-air
rack. Then a Service
staffer demonstrates
how the fish’s gills
extract oxygen from
water.
The children who attend the camp
miss two days of classroom lessons.
In a district where all the schools are
struggling to meet the tests’ minimum
academic standard, that can be a tough
sell. Yet most local educators strongly
support the camp, recognizing the
importance of connecting students with
their cultural heritage and the land.
Many of the teachers come from
outside Alaska, and because of the
remote setting, turnover is high. The
teachers who spend time observing
students and elders in the camp gain
an understanding of village culture and
a new insight into students’ skills and
learning styles, said Brittany Sweeney,
Selawik Refuge’s environmental educa­tion
specialist. “Teachers get a chance
to plug in to the outdoor classroom that
is all around them, and to see how they
can more effectively reach students
who function better in this type of
hands-on learning environment than in
a classroom setting,” Sweeney said.
The camp also builds understanding and
respect between Selawik elders and
refuge staffers as they learn from one
another. “The refuge is the traditional
homeland of Selawik people,” Georgette
said, “so in order for us to be able
to do any kind of research, you have
to have a good relationship with the
community.”
Selawik Refuge is working in other
ways to support the village’s effort to
conserve Inupiaq culture. Georgette is
compiling a list of the Inupiaq, English
and scientific names for refuge song­birds.
And the refuge has published
two booklets researched and written by
local residents. One booklet documents
the historic range of the area’s caribou;
the other documents and explains
traditional fishing methods.
As he described caribou hunting,
Selawik elder David Nasragniq Greist
spoke words that would make an
ideal motto for Selawik’s Science and
Culture Camp: “What is given in the
right way cannot be forgotten.”
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Speci A l Repo R t: B R i N g i N g eN v i R o NM e N tA l e d U c At i o N to d i v e RS e A U d i e N ce S 3 9
the circle of life
Several other Alaska refuges host or
support camps that meld traditional
knowledge and modern science. Since
1993, Alaska Peninsula Refuge on the
state’s southwestern tip has sponsored
Spirit Science Camp for high school
juniors and seniors from native Alutiiq
villages. Using a former Bible camp
as their base, as many as 10 students
and five elders spend four days in
September studying the mammals,
birds, plants, aquatic life and geologic
features of the wilderness surrounding
remote Becharof Lake.
Spirit Science students learn to identify
plants using the same dichotomous
keys used in botany classrooms – and
also learn the plant names in Alutiiq,
the language of the Peninsula’s native
people, and their value as food and
medicine. Students learn basic outdoor
skills such as orienteering, the use of
GPS and bear safety. “And they learn
how their homeland connects to the
“When we grew up our father and uncles taught us how to protect the land
and the animals, so those spirits would in turn provide food and lands for us.
this is the circle of life,” orville lind said. “that is being lost...We want to
resurrect that spirit, that stewardship so we can have these resources for
future conservationists years from now.”
rest of the world,” said camp co-founder
Orville Lind. In a region that is one of
the world’s richest breeding ground for
migratory seabirds, “we tell them that
we have shearwaters that come here
from Australia, and their jaws drop.”
Lind, a refuge ranger at Alaska Penin­sula
Refuge and the son of an Alutiiq
chief, said the camp has four goals:
to integrate traditional and Western
teachings; to increase students’ eco­logical
knowledge; to give the students
outdoor experiences that build skills
and confidence; and to foster a sense
of stewardship for the land and the
wildlife it supports.
By weaving the concepts of Western
science into the framework of traditional
knowledge, staffers at Selawik Refuge
convey the message that these two ways of
knowing need not conflict. Susan Georgette
USFWS
Each year in mid-September when the caribou are migrating and wild berries are ripe,
it’s time for the Selawik Science and Culture Camp.
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A Message from the chief
National Wildlife Refuge System
Our Conserving the Future vision, which will guide national wildlife refuges for the next decade,
recommends improving and expanding environmental education. And for good reason. Environmental
education is a tool to give people a deeper understanding of their ecological place in the natural world
and an avenue to promote an ecological conscience in future conservationists.
Our education programs enable us to articulate nature’s benefits and demonstrate tangible contributions
to community schools. In these pages, you learned about school-refuge partnerships that have already
succeeded in reaching children who don’t usually connect with the outdoors. Often the collaboration initiated by one
committed refuge employee or a single dedicated teacher can influence hundreds of children, year after year.
Today’s conservation challenges are too big for any one agency or organization to surmount. As leaders, partners and role
models in conservation efforts, we can inspire children, teachers, schools and school districts, so together we can leave a
legacy of abundant and healthy wildlife and wild lands for future generations of Americans.
Jim Kurth
USFWS
U.S. department of the interior
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
www.fws.gov
Federal Relay
1 800 877 8339 voice and ttY
January 2013